


Naomi of the Sword  剣のナオミ

by kcharling



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn Manga, Angst and Feels, Assassin - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Canon Rewrite, Drama & Romance, Epic Love, F/M, Female Assassin, Historical Fantasy, I’m a murderhobo, Like I’m not gonna lie, Major Original Character(s), Major Violence, Tragic Romance, who is really into relationship development
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2020-11-24 04:17:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 152,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20901524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcharling/pseuds/kcharling
Summary: A young foreign bounty hunter takes a commission to bring a General wanted for the kidnapping of a Princess and the killing of a King back to Hiryuu Castle for execution.She could never imagine what would come of that choice.Blessed and cursed, wild and wicked, she walks her bloody path, crisscrossing the continent into legend. The eyes of Gods and nations follow her and her companions as they set out to change the world.Her destiny is not yet clear, but whatever comes she will meet it with a sweet smile and her swords drawn.





	1. Chapter One

“You’re so beautiful.” The ugly mercenary murmured drunkenly as he began to undress. The woman laying already naked on the bed smiled indulgently. She stretched her lithe body, her skin milky white in the moonlight streaming through the dirty window. He was panting, already imagining how it would feel to be inside of her. Her hair lay like dark amber across the frayed pillows, and her eyes looked black in the darkness. But the mercenary knew that they were a dark, vibrant blue. He’d seen her staring at him from across the room before she smiled that sweet, seductive smile. He was hooked after that, and when she motioned for him to follow, he wasted no time.

By the time he had opened the door she had already begun shrugging off her robes, revealing a supple, lush body with curves he longed to touch and caress. A massive gold and black dragon snaked across her whole back, it’s mouth bared in a mighty roar. “Did you know the Princess Yona of Kouka Kingdom has red hair too.” One of her eyebrows arched, and she shook her head slowly. “No, I didn’t know that,” she whispered. Her accent was lilting and exotic. She crooked a finger at him.

“So beautiful.” He said again, climbing on top of her, sinking into her warm embrace, settled between her thighs. She was soft and yet firm, and her womanhood was hot and wet, her breasts soft and heavy. With little encouragement on her part, he delved into her. It was everything he thought it would be and more. He’d never been with such a woman, who knew somehow the precise angles that would give him the most pleasure. Her dark eyes were half lidded, and her fingertips drifted up and down his sweaty back like delicate kisses of fire. She grimaced as he thrusted harder, almost reaching the breaking point. His muscles coiled, and her back arched with him.

She smiled her heartbreakingly beautiful smile, reaching up to pull his head down. He thought she was going to kiss him, something she hadn’t done. Instead he leaned down, and buried his face in her neck. He curled himself tighter and tighter, ready to burst, when she sighed with pleasure and rammed her bone handled knife through his back.

Pain warred with pleasure as he struggled to breath. He looked down on her with shock. How could I have missed it? He thought, dying. He tried to speak, but she put a long, slender finger to his mouth and shushed him gently as she ripped her knife out of his back. “Fukami Izumo and her husband send their regards.” She whispered, enjoying the look on his face as he realized what had happened.

Her pale beautiful skin was splashed with blood, and she unceremoniously shoved him off her. He hit the grimy floor with a thud, and she stood over him, smiling so sweetly. “Y-You bitch.” He coughed. Her eyebrow rose again. “Silence, filth.” She said, kicking him onto his back and slitting his throat in a smooth movement. Perfect form, she heard her Master whisper in her mind. He tried gasping, but the blood in his throat gagged him into silence. She loved the silence. She placed her hands together and murmured a prayer over her kill.

She huffed a laugh as his eyes glazed over, and his heart stopped beating. Then she used his clothes to wipe her blade clean. Its weight was a comfort in her hand. She eyed the body critically, and then glanced down at her blood covered body. “Oh, what a mess.” She said, laughter in her voice. She loved the kill, but she’d always disliked the clean up. Her Master had always pressed his lips together firmly when she asked if she really had to dispose of the body or if she could just leave it.

A good assassin never leaves a body behind, he would say. She smiled as she cleaned herself up, and cleaned the room meticulously. After claiming her proof of death, she bundled up the body and carefully tossed it out the window.

She descended from the room, and tossed a gold coin to the innkeeper. The bustling woman wouldn’t meet her eyes, but took the gold readily enough. It didn’t matter to the young woman. She knew what she was.

The body was disposed of easily in the pig pen, where the large hogs consumed it dispassionately. She loved the crude animals. They would eat anything without a care. Even a corpse.

She walked in the moonlight, feeling entirely at peace with herself. She always felt that way after a clean kill. The woman who hired her would sleep soundly knowing that bastard was nothing more than hog food. She pulled a red apple out of the pocket of her robe, and munched on it contemplatively. The sweet juice reminded her of the days of her childhood before she had been forced to grow up. Of apple orchards, and the bell like laughter of her younger sister.

How her life had changed.

The little city that Fukami Izumo lived in wasn’t far, and the young woman reached it before day break, leaving apple cores in her wake on the dusty road.

Knocking twice on the back door of the shop owned by the Fukami’s, she slipped inside, and found a kindly man and a thin lovely woman sitting at a worn table. They looked at her with a mixture of hope and fear. “Is… Is it done?” The woman, Izumo, asked in a terrified whisper. The lovely young woman, looking so delicate and gentle, gracefully reaching in her bag, and pulled out two things. She laid them on the table and waited. The husband reached over and unrolled the flap of skin that lay next to the gold ring. On the dark skin was a tattoo of scrolling symbols that marked the man as a mercenary. The woman let out a shuddery breath, and weakly smiled up at her husband who slipped the gold band back on his wife’s finger.

“I have something else, but Mister, I would ask that you leave for a moment.” The man stiffened and looked at his wife. She nodded carefully and stared. The beautiful woman smiled somewhat kindly at the lady.

Izumo’s husband stepped from the room and the young lady once again reached in her bag and laid something on the table next to the skin. The lady Izumo gasped and paled. The mercenary’s bloody organ, cut carefully from his body lay like a terrible relic on the table. “Lady, I would not presume his deeds, but believe me when I say this,” the young woman knelt and looked the other in the eye. “He will never harm you again. I brought you this for compensation. Burn it, and be free of him.” Izumo stared into the dark, blazing blue eyes of the young assassin who looked as if she understood all too well, what had been done to Izumo.

Carefully with shaking hands, the thin woman lifted the instrument of her terror, and walked towards the fireplace. It was limp and she could feel the hate in it. Before the fire, she felt righteous anger swell up inside her before she hurled it with all her might into the consuming fire. Behind her, the blue eyed assassin smiled in satisfaction. Breathing deeply, Izumo let go of her terror. He was dead and would never hurt her again. “Well done,” the young assassin whispered. She rapped on the table and the husband came back in looking worried.

Izumo smiled. She was finally free. “Thank you,_ Chimamire no koibito_.” The lovely assassin bowed and then looked at them expectantly. With a start, the husband realized that they had yet to pay her. And from what they heard, it was a death wish to cheat the Bloody Lover.

He reached in his robes and pulled out a heavy sack.

The young woman took the bag, and looked at the coins held within. She took a few out and laid them on the table. “It was an easy job. Keep these.” She murmured, enjoying the relief on their faces. They must have scrimped and scraped to afford her fees. This way, they’d at least have money for food.

She bowed and then left as silently as she had come.

On the outskirts of the city, there was an abandoned barn and the young woman slipped inside the dilapidated wooden structure to retrieve her things. She’d never traveled with much. The only things of value she carried were her beautiful weapons, her Master’s treasure, and her haul. She changed from the robes she wore for such jobs into her normal attire which was a curious mixture of clothing from across all the lands.

The dark grey low cut blouse came from the Xing Kingdom and was a fine material while the black strongly woven pants came from the Sei Kingdom. The long lace up black boots that ended at her mid thigh came from Kouka and the long sleeve, imperial collared overcoat came from the Kai Empire. The coat was black with embroidered gold trim with tails that reached her mid calf. It was cut so that the collar clasped around her delicate neck and ended just below her collarbones, not meeting again till below her bust where it buckled to her hips. The three clasps that came down the right side of her stomach were gold in the shape of dragons.

A thick black and gold chain hung from beneath the high collar and disappeared beneath the grey fabric of her blouse, between the swell of her breasts. A relic of a dying land.

The rest of her attire were belts and sheathes. She caressed her beautiful, shining blades, and she sheathed them around her body. Six in her boots on the outsides of her thighs, and then four sheathes buckles to the insides and outsides of her calves. Dozens of smaller knives were inserted into her coat and into the quick release sheathes the strapped to her forearms. Two long hunting knives hung on her hips. Two longer curved knives were strapped upside down crisscrossed across her lower back, easily accessed. And the last, but not least where her two long katanas that were her greatest weapons. The belts buckled across her chest, and the sheathes hung crossing on her back, the bone hilts peeking over her shoulders.

How many hours had she spent practicing the movement of reaching up and pulling the beautiful weapons from their sheathes? The movement had to be graceful and efficient. Her Master had taught her the Dance of Death. Everything beautiful, everything deadly. The dance of steel and blood.

Then he had taught her the other tools for their other trade. The art of tracking, hunting and capturing specified prey. She made as much money as a Bounty Hunter as she did as an Assassin. Both gave her plenty of pleasure.

The words of the mercenary circled in her mind about the Princess Yona. _She has red hair too_. She thought about Kouka Kingdom. She hadn’t been to the middle Kingdom in quite a while. She’d been going back and forth between Sei and Xing Kingdoms as there was always work there. She pulled out another apple, and ate it while she buckled her carry pouches to her upper thigh beneath her blades and tucked her money, her map and her medicine into it. Tying her travel bag shut and tossing it on her shoulder she looked to the North where Kouka lay.

Shrugging and rubbing the bone handled blade on her hip, she set off as the blush of dawn rose to grace the sky. Her Master had always told her that she had more than a touch of wanderlust. She hadn’t yet found a land she wanted to claim as her own. She had laughingly told him that all the lands were hers and his bemused smile had set her heart to skipping.

She only hoped that Kouka would provide her with an interesting job. Something that could provide her with a true challenge instead of these simple fuck and kill jobs she’d been receiving the past few months.

Yes, she hoped Kouka would provide her with a true challenge.


	2. Chapter Two

Word quickly spread in the subtle underworld of Kouka’s cities. The Bloody Lover was on the move, and looking for work. She hadn’t tainted Kouka with her presence in years since King Il had proclaimed that weapons were not allowed. And what was the Lover if not a weapon?

She arrived in Kuuto, the Imperial capital munching on an apple, looking no worse for wear after her many weeks of travel. She went to her old haunts, and put out the word that she was looking for work and many grew uncomfortable with the idea of the Lover being in Kouka at all. It made the young woman grin.

She had an infamous reputation that she had worked hard for. Half the rumors about her weren’t true at all, but she never denied them. It never hurt to have a formidable reputation. It made getting work easier, and it kept away nasty characters who thought they could take her.

Challenges for her title were always few and far between but on occasion, a young stud would try to knock her off her throne, and she would grind their bones into the dust and laugh all the while. Her Master had groomed her to be the Master of the Dance and she had taken the title when she was thirteen. She had defended the title for five years and she had no intention of giving it up. She had sworn to her Master that she would hold that title till her death. The young woman had never broken a promise to her beloved Master.

It was at one of these old haunts, surrounded by nervous people that she found her first job. Easy as the last she had done. Easier in fact. All she had to do was kill this man’s brother. The brother paying her didn’t want finesse, he wanted results. His brother needed to disappear so that he could claim the inheritance.

She did it within a few hours and was paid by the evening.

After that, she had a flood of offers. Some she took, some she turned down.  _ When had Kouka become such a gold mine?  _ She asked herself on a regular basis. The answer struck her, and made her laugh out loud in the middle of the street. Many looked at her like she was insane but it was so damn _ funny _ !

King Il had outlawed weapons so most people couldn’t kill the people they wanted to.  _ I ought to thank him for bringing me such good business! _ She thought smiling happily. Soon, she settled into a comfortable routine. There was much celebration being planned for the next week as it was Princess Yona’s sixteenth birthday. The Lover tried to remember what she had done for her sixteenth birthday, but she couldn’t remember. She was killing and capturing so much to silence the pain that it all blurred together. It caught her interest though because Princess Yona had red hair. She knew she had a kind of red hair, but she was interested in seeing the Princess’ hair. Would her hair be redder?

The Lover knew her hair was more of a blood red than a true red. Her hair was fine and wavy, often driving her to cut it just to manage it, but before her beloved Master had passed, he had confided in her that he loved her long hair. So she hadn’t cut it, leaving it long for him even though he was gone. She usually bound in a long fiery braid or in a bun at the crown of her head.

The week of the Princess’ birthday, the Lover was extremely busy from all the commissions she received. One moved her heart painfully and she didn’t like that. She wasn’t supposed to have a heart.

A boy of thirteen, bearing a bag of ripe beautiful apples. He’d met with her in private and explained that he had no money but he needed his stepfather to sign over his will to the boy and his mother. He was a bad man who hit them both and withheld the inheritance like a toy from the young man and his poor mother. Then the boy asked her to rid the world of the bastard for good.

“I can’t pay in gold. My mother doesn’t know about this. I know she’d just tell me to wait a little longer. But he could kill her in a little so I’m doing something now.... I heard you liked apples. These are the best apples in all Kouka,” he’d said with fierce pride.

According to her reputation, she was fickle and prone to killing those whose offers displeased her. Yet, in secret, she accepted the young man’s offer and the next day, his mother found the new will on her kitchen table, and her second husband mysteriously gone. As well as a bushel of their best apples.

Not many knew about that commission and the ones that did kept their mouths shut. There was a rumor that the Lover would take the tongue out of anyone who whispered that she might be going soft. Or worse…

_ That the Bloody Lover was still only a girl, a girl of eighteen no less. Still but a child. There couldn’t be any truth the the rumors of her skills or conquests. _

She had taken more than just tongues from doubters. She quashed those particular whispers with a viciousness that left cities reeling in shock. It had been a long time since anyone had whispered such things about the fearsome young assassin.

She made a sizable haul and was highly content to enjoy it. She stayed in nice inns with wonderful hot spring baths, ate well prepared food and after every payment she got a massage. She could afford a bit of luxury after so long on the road. Besides, it never boded well to collect too much money. Eventually, someone would be tempted to steal it. The Lover had a policy for thieves. They could keep whatever they took, but she would take their hand in exchange. It discouraged almost all would be robbers.

She wasn’t sure why though, but on the eve of the Princess’ birthday, she took no jobs. Instead, she knelt in her room and prayed to the Lady of Blessed Night- the Patron God of Assassins and Bounty Hunters alike. The small talisman was clutched in the Lover’s strong, slim fingers. She murmured her invocation and prayed for swift swords and clean kills, for easy getaways and a good death for herself when the time came. The onyx and gold winged figure of the Lady holding a sword to Her chest with both hands and a veil to cover Her face was warm in the Lover’s hand.

It was said that whoever held the title of the Master of the Dance got special treatment from the Lady Herself. The Master’s prayers were heard over the hundreds of others who prayed to Her. The Lover knew this to be true for she had long been aware of and used the blessings her Lady had bestowed upon her.

The Lover prayed for her beloved Master, hoping that the Lady had gathered him close and kissed him gently as She bore him away. Finally in offering, she pulled out the bamboo shakuhachi that had once belonged to her Master from its box in her bag. She had once thought that her Master was foolish to carry around the instrument in its cumbersome box. Once he was gone, she couldn’t imagine parting from it.

The speckled bamboo was unadorned but the wood was worn smooth by the calloused fingers that had used it for so long. She licked her lips and settled the mouthpiece against the plump lower one. It had six holes on the front and one for her thumb on the back. Breathing in deeply, offering it up as prayer, she began to play. The notes fell like water and the Lover closed her eyes, floating on the music and prayer. Her Master had taught her himself to pray to the Lady. She hadn’t prayed in many a year until he had taken her in. She’d never put much stock in Gods after what had befallen her, but the Lady had cast Her hand over the Lover and raised her to greatness.

The flute was another piece of her Master that she had gotten to keep after death had stolen him from her. She played it beautifully, but never she thought, as beautifully as he had.

It must have been hours that she played, riding the music and prayer because by the time she opened her eyes it was past midnight. An uneasy feeling filled her stomach and she tucked her talisman back into her blouse and lovingly put the flute back into it’s thick cushioned, hardwood case.

Looking around the luxurious apartment she had, she suddenly felt exposed.  _ Never ignore your instincts, little dragon...  _ her Master’s soft voice sounded in her head. Her instincts told her that she needed to be gone from that place quickly. So she grabbed her bag, tucked her few possessions into it and climbed out the window.

Climbing down the pillars, she left the premise. She had paid in full so she didn’t feel bad about departing in the middle of the night. The slums were always safer for her kind. The Lady was hunting tonight, the Lover could feel Her presence hovering close. The Lover looked towards Hiryuu Castle. It began to rain and she turned away. Whatever business the Lady had in the castle, it had nothing to do with her.


	3. Chapter Three

_ “Hail Lady, full of grace, hearken to thy daughter’s call…” _ The Lover chanted in her dirty room in the darkest back alley inn in Kuuto, holding her talisman in her warm hands. She knelt in the middle of the room, every angle of her body perfect, when someone tentatively knocked on the rickety door. She had heard them coming down the hall, but she hadn’t thought they would be foolish enough to knock on her door of all doors.

She hated to be interrupted during her prayer. It broke the perfect flow between herself and her Lady. Her brilliant eyes darkened angrily as she tucked her talisman back into her shirt, the chain now cold against her collarbones and her face was set in a perfect mask as she opened the door.

The proprietor sweated nervously, begging with his eyes not to be the target of her fury. “Can I be of service?” She said in a cold voice. “M-My lady… y-you have a v-visitor,” he stuttered. The mask broke for a moment and her eyebrow rose in surprise. Very few people outside that particular establishment knew she resided there for the moment. It had stemmed the flow of commissions, but ever since the night of the Princess’ birthday and the quiet unrest that had followed, the Lover had preferred to keep her presence inconspicuous.

“I’ll be down shortly,” she murmured, shutting the door and waiting till the proprietor’s footsteps went back down the stairs. Her bags were packed in moments, her arsenal ready, her blades singing for blood.

She caressed the bone hilt on her right hip.

_ Shall we, my love? _

The Lover opened the window about to escape into the darkness, but when she looked outside, there was half a royal entourage waiting outside. It piqued her interest as to why a royal retinue was in that part of Kuuto.

Instead of going out the window, the Lover turned towards the door and went down the stairs to the lobby. There waited the proprietor and a stern looking, long and dark haired man in flowing, fine quality robes. His dark, reddish brown eyes were like stone.

“Lady.” He said, bowing to her and her lips quirked. _ A royal dog, eh? _ She thought about saying the jest, but thought better of it. She was curious.

“My Master wishes to speak with you.” He said carefully. She tapped her left hilt with her fingertip. Maybe not royal… King Il was famous for despising weapons so it was highly doubtful that he would hire an assassin and he had no need for a bounty hunter with all of Kouka at his disposal. But she thought about the rich clothing on the servant and the retinue… lots of money and possibly, something she wanted even more: a challenge.

She nodded slowly. “Show the way, my Lord,” she acquiesced. Her exotic accent drew some strange looks from the guards, but no one said a word. The serious man led her outside and ordered the retinue around. The Lover was surprised, and yet not, when she saw the palanquin waiting for her. It was a luxury, but with the drapes, no one would know who she was.

Now she was really interested in this new client.

The trouble with the drapes was the Lover had no idea where she was. Every time she opened the drapes to discern her location, the guards merely told her that they hadn’t arrived yet. It took a while and she entertained the idea of escaping, but never followed through simply because she was damn curious as to who had found her.

Too much time later, the palanquin was finally set down. “We’ve arrived.” The dark haired man’s voice called. She exited the palanquin and was taken aback. She stood in the first courtyard of Hiryuu Castle. _ Maybe it is the King? _She wondered. It wasn’t like it was the first time she had loaned her skills out to royalty. 

“Kye-sook, bring her.” A young tenor voice called inside the main courtyard. The dark haired man, Kye-sook, motioned for her to follow. Something about the castle made her tense up. It wasn’t the place itself, but the feelings within it. Tense, scared, angry.

She was led into a small interior garden away from prying eyes. In it was a young man, just entering adulthood. He had a handsome, kindly face and long sandy gold hair that was held by a small gold cuff at the end, hanging over his left shoulder. His curiously colored eyes were devoid of expression, and the Lover sensed cunning beneath the blank facade. He smiled a gentle smile at her motioning for her to join him. His guards shifted uneasily.

They didn’t want her anywhere near their master. She thought it funny for if she had been sent to kill him, he would have been dead already.

His robes were rich sky blue silk and embroidered carefully in gold and white with long trailing sleeves. He moved with grace and the Lover eyed him carefully. Something about him reminded her of her Master. With a thoughtful pause beforehand, she slowly moved to him, keeping her hands away from her weapons.

“You are _ Chimamire no koibito? _” He asked, sitting on a bench near the flower beds. The Lover sat opposite him and nodded in askance. “Some call me that… you sent for me, my Lord?” She murmured. His face changed from calm to delighted when he heard her voice. “Your speaking voice is lovely and your accent most pleasant!” He said. The emotion changed his whole face and demeanor. His green turquoise eyes fascinated her. “Thank you.” She said, smiling sweetly. The perfume of the flower was heady and dizzyingly sweet.

“So you are the Bloody Lover,” he stated, settling back down. “I am,” she replied simply. There was no denying who she was and she was interested as to what this young man wanted from her. “Your reputation precedes you, Lady,” he said courteously. _ Ah, flattery _ , she thought smiling again. _ Just tell me what you want, young Lord. _

Kye-sook hovered near the entrance, his hand folded in his voluminous sleeves and his face tight with worry. “Then, young master, you know I have no patience with noble chit chat,” she said, wondering what would happen.

There was a gasp from around her and her eyes drifted to the walls above where archers stood trained on her every move. She wasn’t too worried. She had no intention of giving them a reason to shoot her. Master Kye-sook’s face grew dark with anger. “Lord Soo-won-” He tried to say, but it was lost in the young master’s laughter.

It surprised her, but she schooled her face. Soo-won, the son of Yoo-Hong, the deceased elder brother to the current King. How very interesting. “Straight to it then. I like it,” Soo-won said happily. It was strange, but he looked genuinely happy. There was a sparkle in his eyes that hadn’t been there. _ So he likes a bit of sass _, she thought. She quirked her mouth in a sensual smirk and recline back, putting most of her weight on her back arm. 

“I would hire your services, _ Chimamire no koibito, _” he said quietly, pausing before he continued, “a tragedy has occurred for the realm of Kouka Kingdom.” She nodded showing that she was listening while her mind churned. “On the eve of the Princess’ sixteenth birthday, King Il was murdered by Son Hak, one of the Five Generals and the Princess herself was kidnapped.” She sat up when he said this.

_ How exciting! _ She thought. She remembered the Lady’s presence in the castle on the Princess’ birthday. _ I understand Your will, Blessed Lady _, she murmured in her thoughts.

What was even better, she thought almost grinning, was that she knew Lord Soo-won was lying. She saw it in the way his eyes went flat at the mention of King Il’s death. “As the only son of royal blood, the task of rule has fallen to me. I have consulted with my counsul and they suggested hiring you to hunt down Son Hak and returning him and the Princess to the castle. I’ll admit, they did suggest a low stature bounty hunter, but I had heard that the Master of the Dance was residing in Kuuto and I wished to meet you.” One feathery red eyebrow rose and the Lover’s face grew bemused. “You know?” She asked. Everyone in company looked confused, but Lord Soo-won just smiled slightly and nodded, “I do.”

The young master grew more interesting by the minute. “I don’t come cheap, Lord Soo-won. Especially for royalty. Even royalty who know of the Dance.” He smiled once again, charmed by her arrogance. He motioned to Kye-sook who brought forth a scroll obligingly. She took it and unrolled it with skilled fingers and both her eyebrows rose in surprise. “These two are worth much to you,” she stated, still staring at the figure on the papyrus. “More than you know,” he murmured, looking almost sad. She didn’t like that.

“For this amount, especially from royalty, I would normally be performing other duties as well.” Soo-won looked at her puzzled. She smiled, slow and seductive, giving him a lusty wink.

He had the sensitivity to blush. So young, she thought sighing. It wouldn’t be any hardship to take him to bed, she thought. He was filled with youth and cleverness, with surprisingly strong hands and an able body. Yet, he seemed entirely flustered with the idea. Pity, it would have been a glorious night, she thought.

“Will you take my commision, Master of the Dance?” He asked her earnestly.

The Bloody Lover felt the Lady’s hand in this assuredly. She didn’t understand why, but she could feel it. That decided it. “I accept, young Master… Or is it Lord no longer?” She mused quietly. She looked in his eyes. “Shall I call you King?” Soo-won gave an involuntary shiver looking into her strange sapphire eyes. Everything about her seemed almost alien. Her clothing, her weapons, her unearthly beauty. There was a knife edge symmetry to her face that matched the fit, curvy body. She was a weapon wielded by no one, but herself.

“You may call me as you wish…” He whispered then curiosity crept back into his gaze. “What shall I call you?” The question seemed totally random, but there was that cunning again. “Most call me the Bloody Lover. Or Master of the Dance. Some call me the Angel of Death, but that is mostly from other Kingdoms. I claim no other titles.” He shook his head and leaned closer to her, creating a sense of intimacy, “What is your name?”

No one had called her by her name since her Master’s death. She was interested to hear how it sounded in Soo-won’s mouth. “Naomi. Just Naomi,” she whispered back, wondering at the sound of her own name.

“Naomi,” Soo-won said, the name sounding like a caress. 

Naomi, the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, Master of the Dance. A singular young woman of startling blue eyes, blood red hair and flashing swords.

Soo-won felt a fondness for her, perhaps a by-blow of the fact that Yona had red hair as well. There was a touch of fear, true, but also profound respect for the young woman who claimed the coveted title at thirteen. She reminded him of Hak with her proud confidence.

“I will accept your commision, _ King _ Soo-won. But I have a question,” She put a heavy insinuation on the word King. She moved from the bench with slow but perfect precision and knelt on the stone cobble to the young King’s left, close enough that he could feel the heat pulsing off her body. The guards moved to restrain her, but Soo-won stopped them with a motion.

He felt a connection with her. Something he had been deeply missing since the loss of Hak and Yona. Perhaps it was because she was such an intriguing mix of them both yet so completely different.

There was a sweet, sleepy smile on her face as she rose up slightly, slipping her right hand up to cup his cheek and putting her lips right beside his left ear. He had to repress a shudder when he felt her breath slid across his sensitive ear.

“Who killed the kindly King?”

The question was like an arrow in his heart, but her hand restrained him from moving away. Her hair was loose down her back and he brushed a few locks away from her ear like the touch of a dove when he turned slightly, mirroring her.

“I did,” he whispered.

He felt more than saw her smile.

Naomi pressed a kiss into his cheek, her lips soft. “Just remember my offer, my young King. I could teach you a great deal of things tonight while I stay in the castle before I leave to hunt,” she whispered playfully. He blushed a deep crimson, almost the same as her hair.

She chuckled and leaned back on her heels, “I will require lodging for the night. I will begin hunting them tomorrow after consulting with a few of your trackers who have already searched.” She said loud enough that the others could hear it and Lord Kye-sook began rattling off orders.

Soo-won wouldn’t meet her eyes, but he couldn’t resist glancing at her every few seconds and a surge of feminine pride washed over her. Maybe the night wouldn’t be as boring as she thought it might.

And the next day, she would begin hunting.

* * *

As the evening wore on, Naomi felt a moment of disappointment.

Rarely did she get to choose her partners and she had been hoping that the young King would come to her. She knew he was attracted to her and he was, after all, a young man with a young man’s appetites. Such a beautiful boy too.

She dimmed the lights in her room and dressed in a silk sleep robe that she had found. She had bathed in hot water, been rubbed with scented oils, her hair brushed into a flowing mane of fine waves. The servants had even buffed and filed her finger and toe nails and applied clear lacquer over them so they looked very fine.

She laid on the sumptuous bed, one of her extra knives tucked under her pillow, just in case. She sighed in discontent, wondering if she should just seduce a guard to fill the emptiness. Or perhaps Kye-sook. He would still be awake and he’d certainly be a challenge.

While she pondered what to do, the doors to her rooms slid open and someone came inside very stealthily. Naomi sat up slowly her mouth curving into a pleased smile.

Soo-won looked distinctly uncomfortable. “I apologize. I had to sneak past the guards around my rooms. Did I wake you?” He said in a rush.

The left shoulder of her robe slipped down and her hair tickled it as she shook her head. “No, you didn’t, my young King… I’m glad you came.” She murmured, her voice already beginning to get a husky growl in it. He stood there awkwardly. “I’m… not well versed… in this…” He stumbled into silence which Naomi figured was a rarity for him. “Trust me,” she whispered, holding a hand out to him. He padded towards her, his thin robe opening to reveal a lean, muscled torso.

Carefully, he put his hand in hers and he came to kneel on the bed. “Trust me,” she said again, sliding her hands across his chest and onto his shoulders. The robe fell away, leaving him in silk pants only. Her robe fell farther open in response.

The room was dim, but there was enough outside light to see by.

Soo-won stood stock still.

“Trust me,” Naomi whispered, pressing kisses to the planes of his chest. He gulped and shuddered. “Yes,” he whispered back, putting slightly trembling hands on her shoulders. His hair was left loose and Naomi enjoyed running her hands through the length of it. It was silky like his fair skin beneath her mouth.

She kissed her way up his chest, to the delicate skin of his neck, up to his temples and finally down his jaw to his lips. His lips were soft and yielding. Naomi wondered if he had ever kissed a girl before or if she were his first kiss.

Soon, he wasn’t so yielding. His kiss became hard and full of want. His grip on her shoulders tightened painfully, but Naomi didn’t mind. He would have to try really hard to truly hurt her. She had a rather high pain threshold.

She finally broke the kiss and smiled. Soo-won was breathing deeply and seemed to come back to himself. Well, that won’t do at all, Naomi thought, already prepared to teach a King the arts of the bedchamber but first, she wanted to see him lose his formidable self control. She got to her feet, towering over Soo-won.

_ To have a King on his knees before her... _

Untying her robe she let it slither down her body, revealing all it’s glory from her tiny waist and round hips to her heavy breasts and perked collarbones. Her talisman of the Lady of Blessed Night hung on its chain right between her breasts, giving Her silent approval of Naomi’s newest conquest.

Soo-won had never seen a woman naked and was entirely unsure of where he was allowed to put his hands. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to know every curve and plane of the lithe body that presented itself to him. He saw with fascination the the hair between her legs was as red as the hair on her head only darker and coarser.

He was eye to eye with her breasts and he looked up, excited and frightened by the hunger he saw in her blue, blue eyes. She brushed a hand over his hair, moving it back from his face and leaned down to kiss him deeply. When she broke it, his hands were clasped about her waist, hugging her close, fingers digging desperately into her flesh. Beneath the scented oils that had been rubbed into her skin, he could smell _ her _. It was intoxicating. It was a scent that he knew if he smelled again, he would only be able to think of Naomi. Apples and cherry blossoms mixed with steel and blood. A wild, elusive scent that tantalized his senses, something he craved to taste on his tongue.

“You said you could teach me,” he growled, his voice deep and rough. Naomi laughed, the sound so seductive, Soo-won eyes glazed over. She knelt down once more and began leaning back, pulling him onto the bed. He followed willingly, sinking into her embrace, forgetting everything but her.

“Oh yes, my young King, I have much to teach you.”


	4. Chapter Four

Naomi left before daybreak, the King still in her bed. They had fallen asleep tangled together, so thoroughly sated, Naomi wasn’t sure she’d be able to leave. He had awoken momentarily when she had moved, protesting and asking her to stay, but she silenced him with a sweet kiss.

She loved him. Just a little bit. Which is why she had to leave.

“Sleep, my sweet young King,” she whispered, stroking his hair, kissing his face, his shoulder, his hand. His face was so open in sleep. She had asked for his trust and he had given it to her, a killer. Naomi wasn’t sure what to do. She had kept her emotions locked down for so long, it was like a limb reawakening after being asleep for a long time. And to love a King, especially one who had killed his predecessor and stolen the throne, was a dangerous business.

So she left, long before her sweet King would awaken and perhaps his heart would break a little to find her long gone, but she figured it was for the best. Or perhaps he would understand what she was trying to do and love her a little more because of it.

It was an unusual situation all around. Too many emotions that Naomi didn’t like. She had killed her heart years ago.

_ At least he won’t forget me anytime soon _, she thought with painfully dark humor. She had left some love marks that would be long in fading and some in places that would make Kye-sook blush.

She had lied about talking to the trackers that had looked for the two runaways. She didn’t need them to tell her where they had gone. She already knew.

Son Hak was mountain raised. So was she. He would take paths to confuse his hunters and keep the Princess safe. In the moments between bouts of lovemaking, Naomi had finally coaxed the tale from her young new King. She now knew that Hak would do anything to keep Princess Yona safe. 

_ Perhaps I shouldn’t have let him keep part of me _, she thought, creeping through the woods, toward Kouka’s mid range mountains. In return for the tale, Soo-won had asked for a piece of her to keep. She had tied a lock of her hair in a braid about as thick as her middle finger and snipped it. In moments, she had made him a red bracelet that he now wore on his right wrist. And then there was the knife.

Not one of her precious bone handled knives, but one she was fond of nonetheless. It was old with a soft leather grip and a small gold tassel hanging from the pommel. Though old, the steel gleamed and the edges were still sharp. It had belonged to her father, a man she hadn’t seen in twelve long years, Naomi wasn’t even sure if he was still alive. She was sure he thought she was dead.

It didn’t take her long to catch up with the Wind Tribe General and his wayward Princess. A few hours maybe. She could have caught them easily, but she held back. Though she loved her precious young King, she was fascinated by the two young people she hunted.

She observed them walking through the woods from high in the trees. She had grown up an orchard child before she had been taken. She loved climbing trees and had startled her beloved Master into laughter once when she had first called to him from high atop a thick pine.

General Hak, the Thunder Beast of Kouka, was a fine specimen of man. Tall and broad shouldered with a shock of shaggy black hair and piercing blue eyes that were made bluer by his dark blue fighter’s robes. His face was stern, but she could read the playfulness in him and the deep, dark sorrow. He carried a massive glaive over his shoulder while his other hand gently pulled the little Princess along.

_ She does have red hair, _ Naomi thought. Princess Yona’s hair was a true red. Crimson and wild framing a soft, childlike face. Her eyes were the color of amethysts and were blank and empty, just like a doll’s. Everything about her reminded Naomi of a wooden doll, stiff and hollow.

It worried Naomi and she didn’t know why.

Why should she care about her quarry? She never had before. She silently cursed her precious King for awakening such soft feelings inside her. Her heart was supposed to be dead, gone, hidden in darkness.

Princess Yona was perfect. Slim and petite, graceful and soft. Something about her made Naomi want to curl around her and protect her. Naomi hated the Princess a little for making her feel that way. She was the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, Master of the Dance, the foremost Assassin and Bounty Hunter in all the lands. She was a cold blooded killer and could drown a city in the blood that stained her hands. Naomi couldn’t afford to care for those she hunted.

The young Princess still wore her rich cumbersome robes beneath the sturdy cloak she wore and her last bit of true finery were the long tassel earrings that brushed her shoulders. She was pale and dirty, her cheeks beginning to sink in. Already thin, the poor girl couldn’t afford to lose anymore weight. Naomi could see Son Hak’s concern for the girl. She refused to eat when they rested and Naomi gazed down on them, wondering at her predicament. She should take them, but part of her rebelled against it. If she took them back, they would die. There was that subtle implication by Kye-sook. Yona had witnessed Lord Soo-won’s murder of the previous King… her own father.

She would die and Hak would die trying to save her.

Naomi struggled with the feelings. Her instincts pressed her to protect the Princess and her guard, but she was commissioned to bring them back to Hiryuu Castle. Naomi was fairly certain that Hak would be her only struggle. She doubted Yona could rouse herself to fight and would gently be led by the hand to her death if Naomi brought her.

Naomi wished her Master were there. He would have had some wisdom to give her. Though her Master was young, he was old by Assassin standards and he had gained much wisdom in his life. If it hadn’t been for her and her own foolish arrogance, he would never have been killed so easily. She wondered during the long hours that she followed the two through the mountains, what he would have advised her. To listen to her heart and forgo the commission… or keep it and do her job? It wasn’t like he had never dropped a commission if it went against his desires.

Once he had dropped a simple job that turned out to be very complicated and when she had queried him, he had simply said: “_ The Lady does not will it. _”

So Naomi prayed to the Lady of Blessed Night. She was a hard Mistress, but She had kindness as well. The Lady had a merciful side and often guided Her chosen not to take a life, but to spare one. Not to kill… but to preserve. She was a God of many sides, some shrouded in darkness, some in light. It was up to Her chosen to find the balance.

These thoughts chased each other in Naomi’s mind. Complete the job or change the rules?

It all came down to one moment.

She had been lounging high above them when she watched the little Princess go off on her own. It was the first move she had made for herself since Naomi had first seen her. Staying in the trees, Naomi had followed her silently while Hak stayed put, brooding.

The Princess was extremely slow, but she went far. All the way back to their previous campsite. She was searching for something. Naomi wondered what was so important to the Princess that she had finally moved of her own volition. She hated the relief that filled her at the sight of the Princess animating. She hated the fact that she wanted to descend from her safety in the trees to be closer to the young royal.

She kept her eyes trained on the girl’s beautiful face, watching the pain floating it with memories in her eyes. Naomi hated it. Hated that she was in pain. She wanted to hold the Princess so tightly the memories wouldn’t be able to find her.

Princess Yona flinched from whatever she saw in her mind and Naomi heard the hissing too late. _ Vipers! _

The young girl stood in a nest of the vicious snakes, already rearing up to strike. Without thinking, Naomi ripped one of the throwing knives from her robes and flung them at the vipers that lunged at the backs of the Princess’ legs. She wanted to break her cover and put herself between the snakes and the girl, but part of her held back. If she broke cover, she’d have no recourse.

She’d have to give up the commission and break with her precious young King. Indecision locked her muscles in place as she fought a wicked war within herself. She was saved when Hak appeared, killing the viper before the Princess just before it struck. Naomi’s muscles relaxed all at once and she felt exhausted from it. What was she to do?

As Hak grabbed the Princess after scolding her and ran, Naomi slid like a cat through the trees above them. She almost missed when Hak was bitten, but she was watching them intently and she watched him stagger for a moment. Naomi’s heart skipped a beat, but Hak bared his teeth in a fierce smile and kept running. He took it as a challenge.

Just as Naomi would have.

They were well away from the nest when Hak stopped and set his bundle of Princess down. He was limping and Princess Yona looked terrified. It scraped at Naomi’s heart.

When Hak went to the river to grab water after starting the fire, Naomi descended from her high up hiding place and gently deposited items next to the Princess where she hoped they would find them before scurrying back up the tree. Hak returned and sat down heavily, pulling his boot off to better look at the bite. It had already swelled up and was streaked with red.

_ Please see it. _ Naomi begged. She should’ve known Hak wouldn’t miss anything. He looked next to Yona and saw Naomi’s offering in the firelight.

A mug filled with an herb mixed tonic, a small walnut cap filled with an herb paste and two ripe apples. “Did you bring that, Princess?” He asked, reaching for the mug. The Princess looked startled to see what was next to her. “No. I didn’t.” Hak looked suspicious._ Drink it _ , Naomi murmured in her mind, staring at Hak. She willed him to drink the tonic. “Where did it come from?” The assassin hiding in the trees bit her tongue as Yona shrugged and looked around. _ How reckless I am! _ She thought to herself. 

Hak tested the tonic with his finger. Then he sipped it. Then he waited. When nothing happened, he down it. With the tonic in him, he immediately felt better. The nausea that had churned his stomach vanished and his muscles started to uncramp. “Must have been a friendly woodland spirit,” he commented, taking the walnut next. He smelled the paste, noting the herbs he could see in it. Carefully, he scooped the paste out and applied it to the bite. It stung for a moment then began to numb the area. Hak could already see the red streaks beginning to vanish. Smearing the rest onto it, he bound it with a strip of linen.

His mind whirred with thoughts about where they had come from. Someone had to be following them. They had seen the snake bite him and had provided aid. Where were they? Were they friend or foe? He thought about this while he bit into one of the apples. They were delicious.

He was even more appreciative as he watched his Princess take tiny bites from the other apple.

They ate in silence and Naomi relaxed. It heartened her to see Yona eating. And now she knew Hak would be fine. Those remedies she had learned at her mother’s knee. The orchard she had grown up in had once had a few venomous snake dens. The tonic and paste were infallible unless there were bites to one of the main arteries.

When he had finished, Hak reached inside his fighter’s robes and pulled out a beautiful hairpiece. “Was this what you were looking for?” He asked, his voice neutral. Yona took it in her hands and stared at it. Hak’s face was totally blank, but Naomi could see the pain in his eyes. She wondered what the hairpin meant. The Princess had moved for the first time to go and find it. It must be important, Naomi thought. “I can’t forgive Soo-won… but more than that, I want you to live.”

At the mention of the King, Naomi’s heart contracted. She missed him. She had only known him for a little while, but Naomi had never been one to take her time with feelings. Hence why she kept them locked down so tightly. With Soo-won, she had been able to being loving and carefree. She didn’t think about the fact that she was a whore and a killer. There had been just the two of them. She hadn’t been so happy since she had lost her Master two years ago. Her first love.

Yona didn’t respond to Hak and the poor man stood and stared at the starry sky. Naomi wondered what was going through his mind. Not too long later, they were both resting up against the tree she was in and they drifted into a restless sleep. “Keep watch, little woodland sprite,” Hak murmured before he closed his eyes.

Naomi watched over them the whole night. Her heart ached, but she had made her choice. She had saved Yona from the snakes and Hak from the venom of the viper bite. She had saved them. _ I’m sorry, my beloved young King, but I can’t keep my promise. I’m so sorry. I’m going to protect these two for as long as I can. Please… forgive me. _

Her heart ached, but in her soul, the Lady of Blessed Night smiled in approval.

* * *

Soo-won stared at the sky full of stars from atop the parapet. Inside his sleeves, his fingers rubbed the silky red hair that encircled his wrist. He could close his eyes and imagine the feeling of Naomi’s lips on his. He could almost hear her voice saying his name with that accent that sounded like she had learned different words from different kingdoms and mashed them all together into her own lilting speech and the trace of a language that he’d never heard before. He loved the way she said his name.

Was it possible to love two people? One he had known since childhood and one he had only known for half a day and a night?

He wondered where they were. Had Naomi found them? Did he want her to?

Part of him wished she had never left. That he had just let Hak and Yona go and kept the beautiful bounty hunter by his side. Already Kye-sook was pushing him to marry. Soo-won’s lips curved in a smile. He doubted the scholarly advisor would approve of him taking a well known Assassin as a bride. Even if she did have beautiful eyes and the most enchanting smile.

No and he knew Naomi would never agree to be his wife. She was too free spirited and would hate being a Queen. She was a weapon and life in Hiryuu Castle would hardly let her keep her skills. A Queen could not also be an Assassin. She would have had to give up her title and Soo-won knew she was fiercely proud of it and would give it up for no one.

These facts didn’t stop him from dreaming. Yona and Naomi. So utterly different, yet they both held his heart. One he would be forced to either kill or marry if she ever came back to the Castle and the other…

He opened his eyes and looked at his Kingdom. He had a duty now and his life could not keep the exquisite woman in it. She would overwhelm him.

Soo-won breathed in, imagining he could smell apples and cherry blossoms with that tangy hint of steel and blood near him. He would always keep her in his thoughts and he would love her there. He could envision her perfect face, the sassy smile and the sparkling midnight blue eyes. Could hear her warm laughter, hear wonderful voice with it’s curious accents and feel her slim, calloused hands caressing his face, his chest, running through his hair. In his mind he traced that beautiful tattoo on her back making her purr like a cat.

_ Ah, my sweet young King, I’m so glad you came to me… aren’t you glad you came? _

He loved her pride and arrogance that was tempered by her kindness. He loved her fierceness which nothing could temper. He would have lain the world at her feet, but he realized that it was already there. She had already taken it.

Looking at the sky, he fervently hoped that she was as capable as she said. The thought of harm coming to her made his stomach clench. He could see her sliding off the end of some unknown persons sword, just as King Il had slid off his. Could see the life fleeing from her lovely eyes and Soo-won hated it. 

_ I have no need for gods, but maybe just this once… _

Soo-won knelt in prayer, keeping his eyes to the sky.

“Oh Lady of Blessed Night, I am not one of your sons, but I pray to you now on behalf of one of your daughters. The greatest of your daughters. I beg you now… please… watch over Naomi. Keep her safe. If not for my sake, then for hers. She is proud, but she is not invulnerable. Please… protect her,” he prayed and then rose to his feet.

Perhaps his eyes were tricking him but he liked to think the Lady had made the stars shine a little brighter to let him know that she had heard him. His guards came, a silent request that he come down to his rooms.

He cast one last look to the sky.

“Naomi.” He whispered. Her name fell like honey from his tongue. Even her name was beautiful. Then he descended from the parapet, his fingers still touching the bracelet made of her hair. _ Naomi. _


	5. Chapter Five

Dawn broke and Hak with Princess Yona walking on her own ascended to Fuuga, the capital of the Wind Tribe. As Hak’s hometown, Naomi was pleased that he and Yona would be safe. With the two of them within the walls, Naomi found a wide tree branch and fell asleep almost instantly. She’d always loved to sleep high in the trees. 

When she was young, she had often napped in her Father’s apple trees which made him laugh heartily, a laugh she could recognize even across their vast orchards with it’s booming resonance. Her mother hadn’t approved, but her lips had always smiled when she gazed up at her oldest daughter asleep on a branch, an apple core still held in her small hands.

She only woke when she heard the hoofs of a single horse riding away from Fuuga at a breakneck pace. She knew the people of the Wind Tribe to be a lively bunch, but still very much lax people. Not quite as lax as those in the Water Tribe, but also not as lively as those in the Earth Tribe.

It was her business to know people. It was one of the ways she was a good killer. She knew politics and economy and temperaments alike simply because in the end it gave her an advantage to know such things. Knowledge was its own kind of power.

After scouting the area around the capital, Naomi discovered the reason the Wind Tribe was so irate. The river, the lifeblood of the Tribe, had dried up. _ No, not dried up _, Naomi thought seriously. She looked upstream.

The river had been dammed.

Of all the Tribes, Naomi cared for the Fire Tribe the least. With as many commissions she had received to kill members of that clan, she had an inkling of what kind of people she was eliminating. They were sly, arrogant and often cruel. Their land was barren and their people poor. Their only existence lay in militia and even their military was full of forced conscripts.

She wondered what ploy they had planned. Why had they dammed the river?

It took her a short moment to think of a good reason. Hak was the Wind Tribe General. Perhaps they had figured Hak would return to his Tribe and the Fire Tribe was leaning on them to turn him out or better yet, turn him over in return for the river.

It was something she would have done if she had been in power. Though she figured that the Fire Tribe General may have underestimated tribe loyalty.

The tactic frustrated her slightly. Without water, the Wind Tribe wouldn’t survive long. Perhaps she should break the dam? No, the Wind Tribe would be blamed if she did so and starting an outright conflict was not in her best interests. She was trying to protect Hak and the Princess. Embroiling them in a Tribe War would not be helpful.

Perhaps assassinated General Kan Soo-jin would be best? No, that would be worse than breaking the dam, she reasoned as she wandered around the woods that surrounded Fuuga. The Wind Tribe capital was located right before the mountains that separated the Wind and Fire Tribe lands. It was a beautiful land, well loved by its people.

There were only a few times that the Bloody Lover had to enter the Wind Tribe territory for commissions.

A day and a night passed and Naomi wandered and explored, feeling oddly lonely. She didn’t like that she felt lonely. She was a solitary assassin. She had only ever worked with her Master and they had never shared commissions. Their styles were very different. Though she had learned the Dance from him, each Assassin danced a little differently. Her beloved Master had always said she danced with more intensity than he did, her moves slightly more ferocious though still elegant. Her Master had danced like flowing water, no energy wasted, always calm and steady.

She wondered about Hak and the Princess and her sweet King. Somehow her thoughts wandered to Fukami Izumo and her husband. How were they doing? And the young boy in Kuuto who finally had his inheritance and lived in a home without fear of abuse?

She wondered why she now cared.

Damn, Soo-won for disrupting the peace within me, she thought angrily. She had always been centered in the fact that she was a killer. She enjoyed killing and she had never dwelled on it nor on her client’s before. They were passing moments in her life which she intended to be short and glorious.

In one night, Soo-won had changed her. In a moment, Hak and Princess Yona had changed her. She wondered if she hated them all for it. Naomi felt like she had lost who she was and part of wished she had never come to Kouka at all. Wished she had never met these people who wanted to draw her heart out of the safety of the darkness.

Finally, she could explore the grounds no more and she ascended to the Wind Tribe stronghold, albeit not through the front gate. She ascended the walls, climbing mortar that seemed absolutely smooth, without handholds or footholds. Naomi knew better. There were always imperfections she could use to scamper up even the tallest and steepest of fortresses.

The manor was beautiful and airy, the land carefully tended. She knew within the walls, Hak and Yona resided and she wondered how long it would be before they became embroiled in a war. How was she supposed to avert such a thing?

She almost ran right into Hak as he descended from a walkway through the grounds from a window looking oddly melancholy, but Naomi dove for the cover of a flowering bush. Luckily the big man was too lost in thought to notice the rustle in the bushes. He carried a bag across his back and his glaive, blade covered, over his shoulder. When she was sure he was gone, Naomi slipped right up to the window, where a very young boy laid his head pillowed in his arms on the sill. He was crying.

Listening for anyone else, Naomi stood and walked to the window, tossing her braid behind her shoulders. “Why are you crying?” She asked gently. The young boy sat up quickly and stared at her with large cerulean eyes.

He sniffed and rubbed his eyes with his sleeves. “Who are you?” He asked with a wobbly voice. His light blue hat and two strings of beads ending with feathers hung from the left side, indicating a member of the Wind Tribe’s Chief family. He looked nothing like Hak though. “My name is Naomi. What’s yours?” He had a sweet, delicate face. He would grow into a beautiful youth though he’d never be handsome. Always beautiful.

“Tae-yeon.” Naomi put her arms on the sill too and rested her chin on her arms. “Why were you crying, Tae-yeon?” Another tear slipped down the boy’s cheek. “Big Brother is leaving.” He shook a shuddery breath in. “And I promised him to watch after Rina and keep her safe… but now she is leaving too… I can’t keep my promise!” He cried, his small body racked with guilt and grief. “Oh sweet boy.” Naomi murmured, putting her hand against his cheek. The small boy held onto her hand like a lifeline. His soft sandy brown hair tickled the tips of her fingers. “I’m not strong and I’m sick a lot, but I promised to take care of Rina. I promised Hak I would protect her!” He sobbed. With a smooth motion, Naomi leapt onto the window sill and swung herself in.

She didn’t have much experience with children, but she hadn’t gotten to hold her baby sister when she cried the day Naomi had been stolen from her. In some small way, holding little Tae-yeon was like she was making up for it somehow. The little boy didn’t notice her blades or her strange clothing. She was soft and warm and her arms were strong as they circled him. He cried and cried till he could cry no more. She murmured sweet things to him in her native tongue, words of love and comfort that her own father had murmured to her when she had cried.

Her strong, sure hands rubbed his small back till he subsided and lay in her arms completely exhausted. “Tae-yeon,” she whispered and his watery eyes looked up at her. She smiled and cuddled him close, “I will keep your promise.”

He rubbed his eyes and sniffled twice. “What do you mean, Naomi?” She thought for a moment. “I’m like Hak and Rina’s... guardian angel. I’ll watch out for them and keep them safe for you.” She whispered, unbinding her hair. It flowed over her shoulders and Tae-yeon touched it in wonder. “Their guardian angel?” Naomi nodded, smiling so sweetly. Inside she winced at the morbid irony. Especially in the Xing Kingdom, they had called her the Angel of Death. She had broken one promise and had taken up another one. “I promise you, my sweet boy. I’ll protect them.” She braided a lock of her hair and snipped it off with a tiny throwing knife.

It encircled Tae-yeon's little wrist three times before she tied it off. “So you won’t forget your guardian angel.” She murmured, kissing his temple. “My guardian angel?” He asked, stroking the soft hair on his wrist. “I’ll protect you too. I’ll protect all of you. Even if you can’t see me, I’m there watching over you.” Tae-yeon hesitated before looking up at her. He’d never seen someone so beautiful before except Rina. But Naomi was the kind of beautiful that made the little boy believe that she was an angel. “Promise?”

Naomi’s heart ached with that emotion she had come to be so hateful of. She gave a little piece of her heart to the sweet little boy she had held in her arms. A little boy whose promise she would uphold. “I promise, my sweet boy. I promise.” She whispered, kissing his forehead. She closed her eyes and cuddled him, kissing his face and cheeks. For a short moment, she pretended this was her own son. Her sweet little boy.

“You have to go, Naomi. Hak and Rina need you.” Tae-yeon said, twining his small arms around her neck, burying his face in her sweet smelling hair, mindful of the handles that poke over her shoulders. Naomi’s arm hugged the little boy tightly, but not too tightly. She could feel the illness in his lungs. It would fade as he grew older. “I will go. Tae-yeon, when your chest starts to hurt I want you to remember something, alright?” He eased back and looked at her face seriously. “Steam helps. My baby sister had trouble with her lungs and my Mama used to have her breath in the steam from the tea water to help ease her lungs. Remember that, alright?” He nodded and smiled. “My guardian angel.” Naomi felt tears well up in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Be safe, my sweet boy.” She kissed his forehead once more, sending up a prayer to her Lady to take some of her strength and give it to Tae-yeon. Naomi had strength to spare.

She set him down and swung over the window sill. “Oh! Here, have this.” She said, reaching into her bag and setting an apple on the sill. “Apples are my favorites.” She said. She smiled at him once more and then took off towards the wall. She had to find her two wayward charges quickly.

As she vaulted over the wall, she stopped and looked back. Tae-yeon was still by the window, her apple in his hands. Naomi waved once and slide over the wall. She smiled as she ran towards the gate. Her sweet little boy, her young King, her prideful lovelorn Thunder Beast, her wayward Princess and always her beloved Master. Her heart was expanding, no longer willing to remain hidden in the shadows.

Oh how she loved these people.

* * *

Son Mun-deok, Elder of the Wind Tribe, sat in the gardens drinking his wine and looking toward the Northern Mountains with a heavy heart. Hak and Yona had gone, leaving him to deal with the political mess left behind.

“Grandpa!” A bright young voice called out. Tae-yeon ran slowly across the yard to him. Tae-yeon was careful not to exert himself in case his lungs seized up on him. He’d been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, he had been told, breathing in the steam from the boiling water.

“Hello, dear boy.” The elder said, swinging his youngest adopted grandchild up on his lap. “Don’t be scared, Grandpa. Hak and Rina will be safe.” The little boy exclaimed, brimming with confidence. Mun-deok smiled, his good eye filled with sadness and worry. “I’m sure they will be.” Tae-yeon nodded. “Naomi promised to protect them and she’s strong.” Mun-deok started. “Naomi?” Happiness filled Tae-yeon’s eyes. “My guardian angel! She’s Hak and Rina’s guardian angel too!”

Mun-deok’s heart began to pound. “What are you talking about, Tae-yeon?” His youngest turned in his lap and told him with sparkling eyes about the beautiful woman with lots of weapons coming to the window and holding him while he cried and of the woman’s promise. “She gave me this so I wouldn’t forget and get scared.” Tae-yeon showed his Grandpa the red hair bracelet that encircled his wrist. Mun-deok touched it carefully.

While he had been at the castle, he had heard whispers of the bounty hunter Soo-won had hired to find Hak and Princess Yona. She had red hair, sapphire eyes and bone handled weapons.

The Bloody Lover. The Angel of Death. Master of the Dance.

_ So she had found them _. Hak had mentioned the strangeness in the woods. Finding the medicine and the apples. “What else did she say?” He asked, keeping his voice carefully level.

“Well, she gave me an apple and told me about the steam. She really wanted me to remember that.” Apples. Mun-deok was seeing a pattern. “What about the steam?”

Tae-yeon looked thoughtful. “She said her baby sister used to have lungs like mine and her Mama made her sister breathe in steam from the tea water to help them. It really works!” Tae-yeon was so happy, it made Mun-deok’s heart hurt. The way he said ‘Mama’ was unusual as well. Where had he heard it said like that? Was that the way the Lover spoke? What was her game? She could have collected her bounty long before Hak and the Princess ever came to Fuuga. The medicine? The apples? Why had she promised to protect them? Why was she so kind to little Tae-yeon when all accounts of her said her to be cold and ruthless even in the face of innocence?

Mun-deok knew he was missing something. Yet, she had promised Tae-yeon she would protect his grandchildren. She had given Tae-yeon a token of that promise. A long bracelet made of hair as red as spilt blood.

The Wind Tribe Elder could only pray that the rumors of the Bloody Lover weren’t true and that the woman, Naomi, would really keep her promise. If she didn’t…

If she didn’t…

* * *

What a desolate place, Naomi thought, following her charges from high above them. They were on a narrow mountain pass, on one side a steep cliff and one the other the rise on which Naomi watched them from. They seemed to be searching for something. They had been walking at a steady pace for hours, making good progress into the mountain range.

They had stopped for a rest break and Naomi ate one of her apples. She was getting low, but she knew that keeping apples too long didn’t work well. She wanted to eat them while they were still good.

Sometimes she’d look over the edge and the urge to join them overwhelmed her. She wanted to talk to the Princess. Wanted to hear the young girl say her name. Wanted to be close in case something dangerous happened.

After she finished her apple she looked down and saw Hak pressing the Princess up against the mountainside looking very intimate. _ Well, well, well... _

She grinned, but as she placed her hands on the ground to look better, her smile faded. There was a faint tremor beneath the palms of her hands. Naomi knew the feel of these tremors. Marching formations.

Naomi stood quickly and looked around. She needed to get ahead, had to find good ground from which to strike. Her footsteps were light as she ran, almost smack dab into the ambush. Dozens of Fire Tribe warriors on either side of the pass, swords and bows drawn and ready. “Master, aid me.” She murmured, grabbing her lower two knives from her lower back. “Lady, guide my blades.”

She would go for the bowmen first. The swordsmen she trusted the Thunder Beast to take care of. She glanced at the large man and saw the battle fire in his eyes and his arrogant smile. The cover was ripped off his glaive and Naomi watched in awe as with one swipe of his mighty weapon, he knocked the attacking warriors aside with ease. She had never seen Hak in combat and she was excited to see. They had whispered about his skills since she had taken the title of Master of the Dance.

The bowmen on her side were entirely unprepared for the sudden attack. She was viciously efficient. It took seven of them dying for the other’s to realize the shadow in their midst. They cried and tried to shoot her, but after so many drills with her Master shooting at her, and practical experience with dodging arrows, Naomi batted them aside and watered the ground with Fire Tribe blood.

“I see the Thunder Beast is going strong.” A nasty voice said below her. A pale haired, manic eyed man stood in front of a company of soldiers, dressed in finery. He had been leading the soldiers from behind. Hak and Princess Yona were caught. “So it is you.” Hak growled. “General Son Hak… and Princess Yona as well. I, Kan Tae-jun of the Fire Tribe… Have been waiting for this moment for a long time...” The speech was prepared and Naomi tried to hold in her laughter.

“Look Princess, there is so much natural beauty.” Hak said, crouching with Yona by the cliff’s edge, completely ignoring the young Fire Tribe Lord.

Naomi laughed to the sky. The arrogance of it! By the time, she was able to control herself, she was surrounded by enemies. “Who are you?” One of them yelled angrily. The two curved bone handled short swords moved like lightning. Naomi smiled. “I am Death.” And she killed all of them on that side of the pass. But there were more, shooting down at Hak who shattered the arrows impossibly fast. “Don’t let him rest!” Lord Tae-jun cried. Naomi moved to the next set of archers, blades dancing. They were shooting at Hak. Shooting at the Princess. Rage like she had never known flowed through her body. If her Master had danced like water, Naomi was fire.

How appropriate.

“Aim for the Princess!” A Captain yelled and Naomi’s heart stopped as she say an arrow pointed at Yona’s exposed back. She had fallen on the path and Naomi dove for the archer. Dove… and was too late.

The arrow fired and Naomi’s sword slid across the archer’s arms. He screamed as blood rushed from the stumps and then quick as a snake the other blade took his head from his shoulders. The Captain quickly joined his men in death.

Naomi didn’t want to look down but she did, and all the breath went out of her suddenly when she saw the arrow protruding from Hak’s back instead of the Princess’ gut. The big man reached back and yanked the arrow out. Naomi knew that was agony, having pulled three arrows from her legs and two from her back before.

Hak took the Princess and with amazing grace, he used his glaive to vault over all the soldiers and took off running.

Naomi ducked around to find more soldiers. If she could kill them, then she could aim a knife right for the little Fire Tribe Lord’s throat. When Hak re-entered the fight, the Princess was no longer with him and it was clear that the arrow had been poisoned. She could see it in the way his muscles shook.

A soldier raised his sword at Hak’s back and when Naomi reached for another throwing knife, she found them all used. _ Damn! _ “Raijuu, behind you!” She cried, slitting a soldier’s belly open and kicking him over the side. She could see the Fire Tribe Lord, crouching with his single guard above the ledge she fought on. If she could just… 

Four arrows fired at Hak, driving him toward the edge of the canyon. Soldiers closed in.

The Thunder Beast was going to lose.

The Lady of Blessed Night’s hand washed through Naomi. _ Save him _, the Lady whispered in Naomi’s soul. The Lady commanded and Naomi, Her loyal daughter handed her body and soul over to the Lady as a weapon for Her to wield. She sheathed the short swords and drew the two long katanas, steel singing.

She leapt an incredible distance and landed light as a feather to Hak’s right side. He stared at her as if he weren’t sure she was real. Soldiers flinched at the sight of her terrible smile. “Who are you?” Hak asked, his voice beginning to slur. “Just a spirit of the forest,” she said, dancing. “Kill her, kill her!” Lord Tae-jun screamed. The archers still alive fired arrow after arrow.

“Bring her down!” A commander called and the remaining soldiers surged toward them both. Hak blocked the attacks hold them with the staff of his glaive, but he grunted with the strain. The poison was acting fast.

Naomi sliced, not caring if she landed a killing blow. She severed, arms, legs, hands, and heads all the same. It was a vicious dance. If the Fire Tribe wanted to live up to its name and play with fire, Naomi would give them _ fire _.

An arrow skimmed her cheekbone and it stung. A little higher and to the right and they might’ve gotten her in the eye. Blood trickled down her cheek and she opened a man up and spilled his guts on the ground.

She looked to see what Tae-jun made of the death he had brought to his soldiers and was shocked to see the Princess on the ground near him and an archer lying below her. She must have knocked him down to keep him from firing. Then the Princess looked at Tae-jun and though Naomi couldn’t see her face, she could feel the heat of her gaze. Yona had fire in her as well.

The Princess stood, but Naomi couldn’t watch though she desperately wanted to. Hak was being overwhelmed. Numbness followed by intense pain washed down the bounty hunter’s face. So it was poisoned too, she thought angrily. She had forgotten the the soldiers had poisoned the arrows.

“Why did you move?” Hak yelled up at her after breaking the hold of another three soldiers. _ Because she wants to protect you too _, Naomi thought to the big man, but it was definitely something that the Thunder Beast did not want to hear. His life was protecting the Princess. How could he protect her, if she tried to stand in front and save him?

“Princess!” Hak called then looked at Naomi. “Why are you even here?” Naomi cut a warrior’s legs out from underneath him and stabbed him through the heart. “I promised your little brother I would keep his promise. I’m here to protect you and the Princess.” She stopped for a moment and bore her eyes into Hak’s, praying that the words worked as well as the last time she used them.

“Trust me,” she commanded. Hak’s heart beat loudly over the roaring in his ears from the poison. He didn’t know her and she was dangerous. But her words, he felt deep in his chest. She was like a divine incarnation. Trust me, she asked of him, and Hak’s heart obeyed. Then they both looked up and gasped.

The Princess’ hair floated on the wind and seemed to turn to consuming fire. Like a Fire Goddess come down from on high. The two below her were transfixed in awe. Even Naomi, who regularly communed with a Goddess was starstruck by the image of the mortal Princess becoming something immortal.

Naomi wished she could’ve knelt and prayed but the Lady still had use for Her weapon. The offering was not yet complete. The Lady of Blessed Night howled for more and Naomi happily obliged.

Hak was yelling at the Princess and trying to make his way up the ledge, but the poison was taking a deeper toll. His movements had grown sloppy and though he still took down the enemy, it was barely enough. “Raijuu, slow down!” Naomi tried to call, but the poison in her had spread farther and it constricted her throat. She knew poisons, had used them plenty, but unless she knew what it was, she had no clue how to combat it. Her Master had always been better with such substances than his pupil.

Naomi tried to follow, but was stopped in her tracks by another squadron. Her eyes were beginning to darken. Soon, she knew she wouldn’t be able to see at all and when she did, she wasn’t sure how long it would be before one of the soldiers finally picked her off.

She began muttering a prayer under her breath in her native tongue, though the words were thick and painful. “_ Hail Lady, full of grace, hearken to thy daughter’s plea... _”

It helped, but Naomi took injuries. A slice to the forearm, a puncture to the back of her right calf, a hard whack across her back with the staff of a broken spear. She almost had her belly slit open, but she managed to jerk back, leaving her with only a long cut across her abdomen.

A lucky swordsman almost stabbed her through the heart, but her blade had the longer reach and he found himself impaled before he could finish the job. It left a deep wound from her collarbone down jaggedly to her sternum.

Her eyesight darkened more. Now they were nothing, but pulsing grey shapes across her vision. “Hak!” She yelled, forcing her legs after the large man. If the poison had come this far from only a cut on her cheek, the Wind Tribe warrior was probably close to expiring.

Naomi reached him just as a young soldier sliced Hak deeply across his chest and knocked him over the edge. Naomi’s lungs were going numb and she wasn’t sure if she remembered how to breathe properly, but prayer still fell from numb lips and she ran forward to help. She still had strength enough to haul him back onto the ledge. _ Save him _ , the Lady commanded. _ Save him I will _, Naomi thought.

She killed one of the men and was forced to truly engage with the other. Her movements were slow by her standards and her grip on her sword wavered. Hak hung on by one hand.

_ “As the Lady commandeth, Her servants obey. In Her embrace we shall lie when our death comes. We who are Her weapons, we who are Her children, pray that the light taketh us not, but that in darkness we lie in wait till Her radiance may shineth upon us…” _ Naomi prayed, long ago memorized verses falling unbidden from her lips. 

Her vision went black an instant before the soldier struck. She barely blocked the blow, but she stumbled and fell to her knees. _ I’m sorry, Lady, your servant has failed You. Master, I’m coming. _

Naomi felt no fear, only the deepest regret. _ Soo-won, Tae-yeon, Hak, Princess Yona, my Master… my Father... _

She had failed them all.

“Who are you?” A deep voice asked. “I am the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, greatest of Assassins, Master of the Dance and Priestess of the Lady of Blessed Night. Touch me and be forever cursed.” She felt the tip of a sword, level at the hollow of her throat. “Cursed? Killing you will bring me glory beyond any I could achieve. I will be known as the one who put the terror of the Bloody Lover in her grave. I will be immortalized.” The young voice said breathless with excitement and fatigue.

She waited a moment. “Hold on, Raijuu. Don’t let go,” she said as loud as she could.

She couldn’t see, but she could feel the sword and feel the heat of the warrior’s body. She spun on her knees and swung her left sword horizontally. Blood splashed her face. He screamed in agony. Naomi sheathed her blades and crawled to where the top half of the soldier lay, opposite of where his legs had landed. She put her cold hands on either side of his face.

Naomi leaned forward and kissed him gently, tasting blood and hatred on his lips. “No one will even remember your name, little soldier boy,” she whispered. Then with a sharp twist, Naomi snapped his neck. 

“Hak,” she called, sheathing her blades clumsily before crawling toward the cliff’s edge.

“Get away!” The Thunder Beast yelled. She still crawled towards him. She hadn’t failed yet. “Raijuu, hold on,” she murmured, “don’t let go.” She was blind. She might have been crawling over the edge for all she knew but she reached for Hak’s hand.

Hak couldn’t see her, but he didn’t like the way she sounded. She sounded weak and dying. When her hand touched his, it was so cold. She wrapped her hands around his wrist and hauled herself to her knees. What he saw terrified him. Her beautiful sapphire eyes had gone milky white and she was covered in blood. Her veins had darkened beneath white skin. She looked like a terrible corpse. How could this be the same person who had stood with him in battle not too long ago?

She began to pull, her muscles popping out with the strain. She was sweating and panting but she continued to try and pull. “Stop, please, sprite! Go back, you’re going to fall!” Naomi smiled at the name he had given her and reach farther down to get a better grip on his arm. His protests began to fade in her ears. She could hear nothing, but the Lady’s murmuring voice. A lullaby.

_ Save him ,_ She commanded. Naomi felt warmth at her side. She continued pulling. The Lady commanded, Her children obeyed. She pulled with all the strength left in her body.

She pulled and pulled.

Then she was falling.

Naomi felt the warmth at her side, felt the warmth of Hak’s arm in her cold, cold hands. They were falling. One of Naomi’s dead arms snaked around the small warm body next to her and pulled Hak to her as well. He was big, but Naomi wrapped her body around them, hoping she could at least cushion their landing. She was dying anyways, what did she have left to lose?

She wrapped her body around them as they fell.

_ Master, wait for me, I’m coming. _

* * *

Soo-won stood stock still and stared at the second son of the Fire General.

He held in his hands the crimson hair of his dear Princess. _ Princess Yona is dead… _

“In the Northern Mountains that separate the Wind and Fire Tribe’s land… I cornered General Hak and Princess Yona… as well as a red haired woman… Just when they were within my reach, they fell into the valley.” Tae-jun murmured his story quietly, devastation written across his face. Soo-won didn’t move at all and said nothing. Kye-sook was speaking but Soo-won barely heard him.

_ Hak...Yona… Naomi... _

Soo-won didn’t know who his heart bled for the most. He wanted to weep, but he couldn’t. Wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. He wanted to rip Tae-jun apart and scatter his remains across the Fire Tribe lands for the carrion eaters to feast on. But he didn’t. He could think of only one greater punishment for the foolish young Lord.

“Rest at the castle today. You will attend tomorrow’s coronation.” Soo-son turned away as Tae-jun began to scream at him, begging for punishment. _ I am punishing you Lord Tae-jun. You get to live knowing you killed your Princess. _

Soo-won left and walked to the parapet where he had lowered himself to praying to an unknown goddess. His soul wept, but his heart became stone. So this is the power of the Gods, he thought in furious contempt. Yona’s hair was clutched in his hand. His Princess, his best friend and his lovely bounty hunter. All gone. He had prayed for the Lady of Blessed Night to watch over her and this was what he received in return. Were all the Gods so cruel?

He touch Naomi’s hair and the wind blew in his ears, carrying her laughter with it. How had she died? Why had she died? Had she been caught in the crossfire of Tae-jun’s attack? Had she died with arrows in her back or a sword thrust through her strong heart?

Or had she fallen, like Hak and Yona? Had she been trying to grab them before they fell? She wouldn’t have let them just die, she would have tried to save them for him. Was that why she had died? Trying to save his friends to spare him the suffering? It felt like something she would do.

She would vehemently argue it, but Naomi was incredibly kind and noble.

And she loved him. He knew that and that somehow made everything more painful. She had such a vast and loving heart and he had felt it, the way she had left him. She thought he had been asleep, but he had woken to full alertness the moment she began to shift. She had kissed him so lovingly, stroked his hair with those fine, strong fingers. Her voice had been full of love when she had spoken to him, so much that it took everything in Soo-won not to pull her back down and hold her so she wouldn’t go.

He had loved her. He always would. Even in death, Naomi would hold a huge part of his heart. Yona would hold the other part. Two red haired women who though different, were made of fire and love. “Yona.” He whispered. He could picture her as clear as day before him. Her gentle smile, bright innocent eyes and hair like the rising dawn. His proud, stubborn Princess whom he had been with since they were children. The girl whose hand he had held while they slept after the Queen had been killed. The brilliant young woman she had become.

The broken girl who had wept on the cobblestones as he gave the order for her execution.

Pain overwhelmed him and he blocked that from his mind.

“Naomi.” He said her name with her accent, just wanting to hear that lilt once more. The arrogant, mercurial yet kind young woman who was so much more than just a killer. He could see her snarky smile, hear her tease him, her eyes sparkling with mirth and heat. There had been no innocence in Naomi. She reveled in her sins, never letting them touch her. She may not have been a Queen, but she wore her blades like a crown and laughed in the face of those who sought to dethrone her. Had she been a Queen she would have cut down her opposition and when she walked, the land would have trembled beneath her. Nothing would have been able to stop her from attaining her goals.

“Naomi, I will hold you in my heart. You will be my strength, my inspiration. When I think that I cannot succeed I will embody you and laugh in the face of my doubters. I will cut down any who stand in my way. It will be you who reshapes this country. I cast out the gods. You are the one I pray to. You are my true Queen.” He whispered.

_ Of course, I am, my sweet King. Now show those bastards what we can do _ , he heard her say accompanied with a wicked smile. He looked to the sky. “Naomi… I pray you give me the strength to see this through.” He closed his eyes and saw her face soften and her eyes warm. _ I will give you everything I have, my young King. _

When Soo-won stood outside Hiryuu Castle just before his coronation, he prayed touching the bracelet he still wore.

Not to the Gods whom he rejected.

“Naomi, my Queen, give me strength…”


	6. Chapter Six

When Yona awoke to the feeling of liquid dripping into her mouth, she wondered why she hurt so badly. Above her, a young man was squeezing an orange into her mouth. When he saw her eyes, he started. “Oh you’re awake?” He put the orange in her mouth. “My hands are tired. Eat up.” He said turning away. “Who are you?” She asked, garbled around the orange. “I’m Yoon. Just a good-looking guy passing through. So you can forget that.” He was grinding a mortar and pestle filled with herbs. ‘Who are you guys anyways? You don’t look like bandits… but you’re pretty persistent if you’re still alive after falling from that cliff.” He glanced to the other side of Yona, his face calm, but his sky blue eyes were worried.

“That’s right, we…” Yona gasped, remembering. The dying red haired woman, trying to pull Hak up with all her might. Them falling from the cliff and the feeling of the woman’s strong cold arms going around her, oddly comforting as imminent death became apparent.

“Hak! Where’s Hak?!” She cried despite the pain in her head. She was bandaged carefully. “Hak? If you mean the dark haired man that was with you… he’s over there…”

When Yona saw Hak her heart dropped. If she was injured, it was nothing compared to Hak. He was bandaged from head to toe. Even his eyes were bandaged. “Hak!” The big man wasn’t moving. He gave no sign that he was still alive.

“He’s alive. Just barely.” Yoon stood and carried his bowl to the other body on the other side of the room. “I managed to take care of the poison his body received. But with the sword cut on his chest, the bruises all over his body and the internal bleeding… he would have died if I had treated him a second later.” Yoon, oh so gently, opened the other woman’s mouth and pressed the medicine under her tongue. “It would’ve been worse, you know?” Yoon murmured and Yona turned to look at him, her breath catching in her throat.

She had seen the beautiful woman fighting with Hak. She’d seen what she had become after fighting with the Fire Tribe warriors. Now she was almost unrecognizable beneath the wrappings. Only the crown of her red hair was not bandaged down. Her lower jaw was free only so much as so Yoon come open her mouth and administer medicine and it was purple with bruising. “She’s the real idiot. She put her body between you both and the ground. She probably broke your fall, judging how badly she is broken.” Yona’s eyes filled with tears. She didn’t even know this girl’s name, but she had saved her. She had saved Hak.

Yona scooted over to the girl and watched the slight rise and fall of her chest. “The poison they used on her was particularly nasty. I’m still trying to get the rest of it out. It’s not the same as the one they used on him,” Yoon motioned at Hak, “if I can’t get it soon, she’ll die. She might die anyways. The internal damage…” The young man mumbled to himself more. “Squeeze this into her mouth.” He said brusquely, pushing an orange into her hands.

“She needs nutrients now to help her body fight the illness that’s going to set in soon.” Yona squeezed the orange, making sure all the juice fell into the girl’s mouth. Yona wasn’t sure why, but she needed this girl to survive. She needed to know this girl’s name and why she had sacrificed so much for two people she didn’t know.

“Yoon! Yoon!” A breathless voice called. A tall, muddy man with shaggy blond hair rushed in. His hair was bound in a braid to the back of his head, but the front of his hair hung over his eyes. “Hold it.” Yoon said flatly. “Jeez, why are you covered in mud?” The newcomer winced theatrically. “I was praying to the Heavens for everyone to be happy and I slipped and fell!” Yoon put his foot up to push the man away. “You’re such a pain. The Heaven’s have deserted you.”

The man didn’t seem fazed at all. He was very used to Yoon’s attitude. Then he looked at Yona, who still was squeezing the orange. “You woke up! Thank goodness! How do you do? My name is Ik-soo. I’m kind of like Yoon’s guardian.” Yona made polite noises, but she really wanted to concentrate on the girl, as if she could coax her into breathing more if she focused enough. “I’m…” She trailed off. They seemed nice but she couldn’t reveal her identity.

When she looked up to make a disclaimer, she saw Ik-soo crying. “Y-You’ve really… suffered a lot haven’t you…?” Yona was very confused. “No, Hak and this girl shielded me from the fall…” Ik-soo shook his head. “No, I meant from the time when you made the decision to start your trip.”

Yona was stunned. _ My trip? _ “Even more so for a person like yourself, Princess Yona…”

The Princess seized up and dropped the orange on the girl’s face. “Hey, watch it!” Yoon snapped, angry. “Sorry… how do you know about me?” She asked. “God told me tha…” He stopped mid word. Yoon gazed at Ik-soo. “Are you stupid? There’s no point in living in seclusion if you’re going to tell others so casually.” Yona’s mind thought hard about what Mun-deok had told her when she had left the Wind Tribe. About the priest who lived alone somewhere in the Wind Tribe lands. Could this be the priest?

“Are you the Priest? I heard my Uncle Yoo-hong had oppressed you so I thought you’d be an old man.” Yoon muttered something uncomplimentary about age and Ik-soo smiled. “That was my predecessor. I’m his successor.” Yona thought about this. “You knew I’d be coming here too?” Ik-soo looked delighted. “Yes! It is my job to convey the Voice of the Gods to everyone. The Gods teach me everything about this world.” He was already kneeling again.

“What job?! You don’t make any money. You do nothing, but pray all day. You were driven out of the castle because claiming to hear the Voice of the Gods is suspicious in the first place!” Yoon said, peeling Ik-soo out of his dirty clothes and throwing a towel on him.

“Why was he driven out?” Yoon froze and turned to look at Yona with flat eyes. “I’m rather shocked… you lived in the castle and you don’t know?” His voice was neutral, but there was a trace of bitter contempt there that Yona could hear.

Yona was ashamed. She had lived in Hiryuu Castle her whole life, but she didn’t even know about that. She didn’t know anything about her Kingdom at all. How could she say she was a Princess of a place she didn’t know?

Hak twitched a grunted. “Hak!” Yona cried, springing to his side, the orange forgotten. “Ik-soo.” Yoon said, nodding towards the bandaged woman. Dutifully, the Priest knelt by her side, and dripped more juice into her mouth. He had already shed his tears for Naomi and he wished she would wake so that they could speak. He had many messages for her.

“He has a fever.” Yoon said, beginning to treat the big man. He brushed his shaggy cinnamon colored hair from his eyes. Yona was so scared. What if Hak died? What would she do?

Ik-soo’s finger’s drifted over Naomi’s body, carefully feeling for malignance. Her blood sang evilly with the poison that floated in it, but Ik-soo could feel Yoon’s medicine having effect. “Don’t worry. We’ll watch over you. The Gods will it that you live, Akamine Naomi of Belarusia.” Her pendant lay on the bandaged swell of her chest and Ik-soo touched it with reverent fingertips. “The Lady Commandeth, sweet girl. Heal. Live.”

Ik-soo felt Naomi breathing hitch slightly then return a bit stronger. It made Ik-soo smile.

It had been a long time since he had communed with a God-Touched child.

* * *

In the night, Naomi changed. Her breath became sore and ragged, her skin becoming unbearably hot. Yoon woke almost immediately and went to her side. So it’s begun, he thought solemnly. Naomi’s body was fighting back. In these hours, she would either fight and live or succumb and die.

Yoon sponged away the sweat he could and gave her droplets of water when her harsh breathing dried her mouth out. He had to rub his eyes to stay awake, but he wanted to see this girl fight. He’d taken care of her weapons and knew her body well after treatment. He wanted to know who she was. So he stayed by her side.

An hour later, it grew worse. Her muscles spasmed and she groaned in pain. Her body was forcing the poison out. The medicinal herbs in her mouth drew the poison there and the clear, heavy liquid spilled from her slowly. It was disgusting, but Yoon watched it with sick fascination. “C’mon. Fight.” He urged, wiping her chin and cheek. She was burning up, burning out the poison and the illness. She shook and shivered and the bandages around her eyes grew wet from where she was crying. After another agonizingly slow hour of watching the poison seep from her mouth, it was done. She still spasmed, but her fever was beginning to lessen and there was no more poison.

Carefully, Yoon removed the herb wad and threw it in the fire. There was a low noise, but Yoon couldn’t discern it until he sat back down next to the girl and wiped away the sweat that the illness produced.

“ _ H-Hail Lady… full of grace… hearken to thy unworthy… servant… _ ” The language was

strange, but Yoon knew a prayer when he heard one. She wasn’t aware of anything, but the pain. She’s seeking solace in prayer, Yoon thought, curious. “It’s okay. You’re safe now… I know it hurts, but it’ll get better.” He brushed his fingers over her bandaged cheek. “I’ll watch over you. See?” Her murmured, laying down on his side to the left of her, his body angle slightly around her protectively. Yoon pulled the blanket over her and himself and soon the girl’s body began to relax, her muscle spasms fading into little tremors. Hesitantly, he laid his left hand over her heart, just so he could feel it beating. He hoped that he wouldn’t make her uncomfortable.

He knew she was still unconscious, but her right arm slowly, oh so slowly, moved till her warm hand laid overtop of his.

Like that, Yoon fell asleep.

* * *

Naomi was surrounded by pain. Not a sharp pain. Worse, a deep, dull, aching pain that worked across her whole body.

_ Lady if this is my punishment for displeasing You, I accept. I accept, I accept, I accept. I failed You and everyone else. I’ll never get to apologize to Father. Poor Tae-yeon will be devastated. My sweet young King will never know that I loved him even though I couldn’t keep my oath. Hak will never be able to tell Yona that he loves her so desperately he would do anything she asked even if it killed him. And Yona, the beautiful Princess that I will never know. I wasn’t strong enough to save her.  _ The world would weep at the loss of that bright flame and that loss grinded on Naomi’s very soul. She had lost something so precious there were no words for it.

_ Punish me please… _

What felt like ages passed before Naomi could open her eyes and even then, she was faced with total darkness. I’m dead, she thought ashamed. The Lady has abandoned me because I couldn’t obey Her command. I will never see Her radiance, Naomi thought with utter despair.

“I think she is waking up!” Someone said close to her. It jolted Naomi and she wondered who was with her in the Land of the Dead. Was it her Master? Had he come for her? “M...M…” She tried calling out to him, but a very real, warm touch halted her. “Easy. You’re recovering well but you need to take it slow.”

Recovering?

“W… What happened?” She croaked. “Why can’t I see?”

She remembered the blindness taking her as she fought in the mountains. What if she was permanently blind? The idea terrified her. Sure, she knew the tales of famous blind assassins, but they had been blind their whole life. They were trained to compensate for it. She was not.

“Because your eyes were injured and didn’t react well to light so they are bandaged. If you’re good, I’ll take the bandages off in a bit.” The voice was very sassy and it made Naomi smile.

“You saved me?” She asked. There was an uncomfortable silence. “Yes. You were poisoned and terribly injured. If I hadn’t found you when I did, you would have died.” Slowly as to keep the pain minimal, Naomi turned her head towards the voice. “Thank you. I’m in your debt.”

The person came over and fussed with the bandages on her arms and legs. “Don’t worry about it.” Naomi’s smile deepened. “My name is Naomi.” Gentle fingers touched her face. “I’m Yoon. How do you feel?” Naomi snorted which set her head to pounding. “Awful. I made a mess of myself, didn’t I?” Yoon grunted in agreement. He had kind hands.

“Much worse than the other two. You broke their fall, did you know that? Even Master Hak. He did most of the internal damage to you when he landed.” Hearing Hak’s name, Naomi teared up. Hak and the Princess survived. Naomi hadn’t failed.

The Lady smiled gently in Naomi’s soul.

“I’m going to take your bandages off, okay?” Breathing deeply, Naomi gave the okay.

Oh her head hurt! She replayed the battle in her mind, counting her injuries. The worst one was certainly the most insignificant in retrospect.

The cut on her cheek that had been coated in that terrible poison.

The last bandage around her eyes came off. Slowly, she opened them. At first everything was blurry. “Easy, your eyes have been covered for a few days now and they need time to readjust.” Hovering above her, the person whom she now owed her life to stared down. His eyes were like chips of the pale blue sky and hair the color of a young oak tree. Two small feathers were braided into the crown of his head on the left side and the hair was straight and hung to the nape of his neck. He saw her gaze, flushed and looked away.

“I usually look better.” She said with a wry laugh. He grinned. “Then you must be the most beautiful woman in the world. No it’s… I’ve never seen someone with eyes like yours.” She tried to shift into a sitting position, but her body was very weak. “They are my Father’s eyes, but a little darker.” Yoon, unwrapped one of her arms, marveling at her speech pattern. He hadn’t traveled much, but he’d never heard someone speak the way she did. Then he freed her other arm. Then the leg with the puncture wound in the calf. Each removed bandage reveal mottled bruises and deep cuts. Naomi hoped she hadn’t lost her bag. In it was a cream she bartered for that got rid of scars. It was always better for an assassin to look untouched. Assassins with many scars obviously weren’t very good at their job.

“These are healing nicely. The only one that won’t fade is this one.” Yoon reached over and touched Naomi’s left cheek bone and the cut that ran across it. “Because of the poison.” Naomi whispered, trying again to sit up. “Be careful. The cut on your belly was bad enough, but the one on your chest almost bled you to death and I don’t want them opening up.” Yoon said seriously, helping Naomi sit up. She wouldn’t have been trying, but she had a fierce need to relieve herself and she was absolutely starving.

Yoon helped her carefully to her feet. She wore a thin white shift. “Where are my clothes?” She asked, hobbling to the door to go out and pee. “I’ve washed and sewn them up. They are with your weapons. I cleaned those too for you, by the way.” Naomi looked at the young man and smiled a sweet smile.

“You are a singularly talented young man. Thank you.”

He grinned. “I’m also very handsome too.” Naomi laughed despite the pain it caused. After she relieved herself, she surveyed the well sized shack that had housed her and began to work some of the stiffness from her joints. She thanked the Lady for her blessing of fast healing. Already, much of the aching pain had abated, leaving only the wounds to deal with. She was careful not to exert herself or open any of her wounds, especially the ones on her torso. Yoon had been right. The cut from her left collarbone to her sternum was painful.

After eating, she slowly perform the warm up dance her Master had taught her first, very exact and careful. It came from their home and he had called it the Rigmar. Her body, though recovering, still remembered every step. It was doing this that Hak, Princess Yona and Ik-soo found her. “Don’t interrupt.” Yoon said, coming to them. Naomi was lost in the movements, revelling in it. She was so relieved that she didn’t have any permanent damage. This dance, unlike the Dance of Death, was slow and created to teach control. The flowing movements held in them the basics of the Dance of Death and was its very foundation. Bending like a reed in the wind, solid as an oak tree, flowing like water.

When she came to her resting pose, she opened her eyes and saw four pairs of curious eyes staring at her.

“Oh!” She cried, embarrassed that she hadn’t noticed them. There was an awkward tension in the air. Naomi had dreamed of the moment she would be able to talk to Hak and the Princess, but she never thought it would be like this. Ik-soo broke the silence.

“It’s good to see you up and moving, Naomi,” he said with a gentle smile. She looked at him with wonder. “Priest,” she replied with that strange accent. She bowed slowly, wincing as it tugged on her chest wound.

She looked at Hak whose eyes gazed at her blankly.

Then at the Princess. Her hair was shorn raggedly above her shoulder in the back, leaving only the long locks in the front framing her face that reached her collarbones. She too was bandaged and Naomi resisted the urge to run over and examine every wound and assure herself that the Princess was indeed fine.

“Ah, we’ll be… over there.” Yoon said, dragging the Priest away. She looked at him and he smiled, “Later, Lady.”

She nodded slowly, fighting not to wince as the bruises on her back made themselves well known.

Then she was left alone with Hak and the Princess. The two people she most desired to be with and now the two people she wished she could run from the most. “Hello, General Hak… Princess Yona…” She bowed to them and walked to the stairs that lead right into the main room.

“So it’s the little woodland sprite.” Hak said, settling down on the ground facing her. Naomi sat on the top step and the Princess sat one step down. “Ah… yes, that would be me.” Naomi flushed with embarrassment. The Princess was staring at Naomi with disturbing intensity. “How long have you been following us?” Hak asked, crossing his arms. He was heavily bandaged over his chest.

Naomi thought about it. “Ah… maybe three days after you escaped? Four? I caught up to you in the forest a few days from Fuuga.” Naomi tapped her lips thinking. “Why were you following us?” The Princess finally asked, her voice very hushed.

The one question she had hoped they wouldn’t ask.

“Well, your Highness… I was sent to find you and bring you back to the castle.” Naomi said quietly. “Bounty Hunter.” Hak said, his face darkening.

Naomi pulled her shoulders back. “It’s one of my professions, General Hak. I’d thank you not to speak ill of it. You knew they would be sending people after you.” Hak’s eyes never left Naomi’s. “You said… one of your professions… what else do you do?” He said very, very slowly. Never wavering, Naomi replied. “Assassin.”

Hak stared and then nodded. “I thought so. I’ve never seen the Dance before but Grandpa used to speak of it sometimes.” The Princess’ eyes had gone wide. “So who are you?” Hak asked, sighing, “My name is Naomi. I’m also known as the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death and the Master of the Dance.” Hak’s eyebrows shot up. “The Master?!” He said with surprise. Princess Yona looked at him silently asking for an explanation.

“The Master of the Dance is the strongest assassin on the continent. Anyone can challenge for the title at any time. It usually a short held title, but the current Master of the Dance has held it for years.” Hak looked at Naomi and she smiled and nodded. “My Master groomed me to take the title and I challenged when I was thirteen while my Master was away on a commission. When he came back, I was the new Master of the Dance.” Naomi smiled remembering her Master’s fierce pride.

Hak’s look changed from awe to caution. “I’ve also heard of the Angel of Death. Not many good things. Worse things about the Bloody Lover” He said distrustfully. Naomi waited a moment to respond.

“You gave me your trust on the battlefield, Hak. I’m asking once again, for the sake of my promise, to trust me.”  _ Promise? I promise, my sweet boy, I promise. _

“You gave Hak the medicine when he was bitten by that snake…” The Princess said, still staring. Naomi could’ve lost herself in those amethyst eyes. “I did. That was when I decided to break with Lord Soo-won. I chose to preserve yours lives, rather than take them.” Princess Yona’s eyes darkened at Soo-won’s name and Naomi felt her own heart clench.  _ My precious young King. _

“Why?” Hak said, highly confused.

Naomi forced herself to look away from the Princess’ devastating eyes. “The Lady does not will your deaths. Quite the opposite. She wills you both to live.” She said simply. “And I made a promise to a very sweet young boy, that I would uphold his promise and keep his Big Brother and Rina safe. I’m your guardian angel.” She smiled sadly. “And his…” Hak stared at her. Then began to nod. “Princess… we could use someone like her.” Naomi looked at the Princess and put all her feelings into her eyes. 

She was finally with Princess Yona. The young girl who had fascinated and impressed Naomi and for some inexplicable reason, Naomi felt that she belonged to the Princess. She had to be with her. “Please, let me come with you and keep my promise.”

Yona felt it too.  _ Naomi _ . A girl with sapphire blue eyes and dark, dark red hair. She had an otherworldly beauty about her. It wasn’t delicate and ephemeral. It was symmetry and strength. She had a sweet smile and Yona could feel her need. Yona felt it too. She needed this wild stranger whose eyes grew sad and wistful when she said Soo-won’s name.

The Princess’ lips quirked up in a mock pout. “You’re going to fuss over me like Hak, aren’t you?” Naomi blinked and her smile went from sweet to absolutely wicked. Hak spluttered that he didn’t fuss. There was laughter in Naomi’s voice as well as relief to have been accepted.

“Oh no, my Lady. I’m much better at it than he is.”


	7. Chapter Seven

Night time in the valley was peaceful but Naomi’s heart was not. In her soul, felt what she was doing was right, but her heart was filled with a tempest of doubt and something she was unaccustomed to: Fear. Naomi had known fear in her life, more of it than many, but she had long ago beaten and conquered those fears. She had been centered in her confidence to meet and overcome any challenges set before her.

Yet, she had come so close to failing. Maybe she wasn’t as good as she thought she was? That wouldn’t do at all. She had to be at her peak if she was going to be worthy of following her red haired Princess. She had to be the best. Now that she had people she cared for, she had weaknesses that could be exploited. She had to compensate for her newfound weakness.

She had slept for long enough.

Naomi found a solid spot of ground surrounded by trees in an oblong oval. Everyone was asleep so she would have no interruptions. She had borrowed some of Yoon’s clothes that had been altered to fit her. All her blades lined her body, as well as the few throwing knives she had been able to recover. The bone hilts ached to be wielded.

Her body was still sore but she had lacquered her larger wounds so they wouldn’t open up. It would wash off later when she bathed. She was dirty and she knew she smelled a bit ripe, but she planned to sweat that night.

During the day she had taken it slow, letting her body readjust to the moving. Now she would Dance for real. She murmured a quick prayer to the Lady and began with the Rigmar, slow and controlled then speeding up she changed to hand to hand techniques. Simple, elegant and brutal. She closed her eyes and saw her enemies. Their weaknesses apparent as if a light shone on them.

The joints. The soft areas of the body. Places to strike that would cause pain, places to disable, places that if cut the right way would end a man’s life in a few moments. Her Master had taught her all of them. 

Though Naomi was slim and small, she had a sinewy strength and any hit she landed was promised to hurt. She punched and kicked, threw open palm strikes into her imaginary opponents faces, swept their legs from beneath them and then she began transitioning into the harder moves. She pivoted on joints that seemed impossible. She spun on her shoulder blades, keeping her head tucked in as her legs moved gracefully in a wide circle, then still spinning she swung onto her hands and two footed piston kicked one fake opponent in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind from him. She slipped and slid along the ground, performing what looked like complex acrobatics. 

She flipped head over heels backwards, her back arched perfectly and when she landed the short swords from her lower back were in her hands, the transition seamless. Their weight was a comfort. The steel was nothing, but a blur in the moonlight as she downed her imaginary enemies. Naomi emptied herself into the dance like throwing paper into an inferno. She emptied all the fear, all the anger, all the pain into that dance. The imaginary bloodletting was glorious and Naomi could feel the splash of red across her skin.

With the smooth transition from one form to the next, she easily sheathed her lower knives and changed to her katanas, subtly changing her style to maximize the longer blades full potential. She centered herself with the Dance, forgetting the aches and pains, forgetting the heartache and confusion. In this dance, there was only steel and flesh, like extensions of one another. It was as if life fell away from Naomi, leaving only steel. Only the dance.

This was who Naomi was.

_ CLANG! _

Naomi gasped as her blades came to a sudden halt. She opened her eyes and found that she had almost sliced Hak in half. “Please don’t, I’ve just recovered and so have you.” She jerked her blades back and sheathed them, “My apologies. I thought everyone asleep already.” 

Hak smiled and sheathed his own blade. “I believe that everyone is still awake, but I doubt they’d come this far out. I only came because of the sound,” Naomi raised an eyebrow. The Dance was silent and Naomi was positive that she’d hadn’t made a sound.

“Dirt crunching under your feet as you move and wind whistling past your blades. No one but a warrior would have heard, I promise,” Hak said chuckling. Then he settled and looked at her seriously, “You were asleep, but I thought someone should tell you. We leave tomorrow for the Village of the White Dragon.” Naomi cocked her head to the side curiously and Hak took a moment to realize that Naomi was not a citizen of Kouka Kingdom. She was a foreigner. No one knew where she had come from.

“White Dragon?” She asked. “Ask the Priest the story of Kouka’s origin. It’ll make sense then. I just wanted to ask you if you were serious about coming.” Naomi’s hand went to her talisman. “I am serious. I want to go with you. I have to go with you,” her hand tightened on her image of her Goddess, “The Lady wills it.”

Hak stared and almost grimaced. “The Power of the Gods… never mind, I’ll be glad to have you… just don’t expect me to take care of you.” Naomi laughed, “No one takes care of me, General Hak. The only one who watches out for me is me.” She smiled wickedly and Hak felt the urge to respond in kind, “You’ve got your hands full taking care of our wayward Princess, yes?”

Hak liked this girl. She was so confident even though she was a tiny thing. She wasn’t much taller than Yona, only by an inch or two, but her presence made her seem much bigger. And he had been watching her perform her Dance for a while. Long enough to realize she was deadly with or without her blades. Someone whom he could trust with the Princess’ safety if he had to fight. She still made him nervous, after all she was a trained killer, but she had almost died trying to keep them alive. Trust me, she said and Hak did.

“Yes, I do.” He said walking past her. “I’m going to sleep. See you come morning.” Ah, morning. Tomorrow, they would begin their journey. Naomi was excited and yet nervous. The nervousness made her a little stupid.

“Hak?” She called and the big man glanced back at her. “You love her, don’t you?”

The question stopped him dead. She could see his eyes widen with surprise as if no one had said it out loud before. It took his brain a few tries to restart. “Ha! I don’t know what you’re talking about, sprite. I’m just her bodyguard.” He waved it away nonchalant but Naomi saw through it. After all, she reacted the same way to uncomfortable questions. Hak was very much like her.

“Sure, Raijuu. Keep telling yourself that.” She said sassily but with a sweet smile. Hak stopped but didn’t turn to look at her. “She is my life,” he murmured, barely audible, but Naomi heard it. She paused a moment before she replied, “Sleep well, Hak.” Turning, she began to walk towards the river to wash away the past few days from her skin.

“Rest up, sprite.” He called before vanishing into the forest.

For a big man, he moved quietly.

At the river, Naomi divested herself of all her clothes and weapons and waded into the gently flowing water. It was chilly, but Naomi welcomed it after getting so heated during the dance. Sweat and grime washed from her skin easily with the heavy use of soap root and hard scrubbing. The lacquer on her wounds slowly washed away and Naomi probed them carefully. In a few days, as long as she didn’t overexert herself, the wound will have knit itself close strongly enough for her to fight once again without restraint. Gods, she thought, it felt good to be clean.

Water flowed through her fingers smoothly and Naomi closed her eyes and imagined watching her Master perform the Dance. Flowing water, smooth and poise, but absolutely deadly. Water had beget fire, as her Master had bestowed the art of the Dance upon her. She moved like flame. Quick, consuming, beautiful and brutal.

“Naomi?” A voice called to her. Naomi stood, water rushing past her legs, and turned to see Ik-soo standing on the bank. Seduction unfurled inside her like a golden flower. He had a sort of beauty to him with that wild blond hair and his kind smile. Beneath his bangs, his eyes were fixed upon her. “Now, now, Lady. I’m a chaste priest and you are far too tempting already without using your Goddess’ blessing.” Naomi started surprised. No stranger had ever noticed the gifts her Goddess had bestowed upon her.

Ik-soo stared at her, seeing Temptation Incarnate. He could feel the pulse of a foreign God’s blessings on her. Who knew how many she possessed?

The young woman sank back into the water and swam towards the bank, where she settled like a water nymph, hair floating on the slow moving current, and eyed Ik-soo expectantly. She was covered by water and shadows and Ik-soo sat cross legged before her. “I’m glad we get to talk before you leave. It seems I’m always a step behind you.” Naomi smiled. “Well, I have been sleeping much more than usual. It’s hard to speak to me while I sleep.” Ik-soo nodded. There was silence for a time.

“Priest, will you tell me of the origin of this land? What do dragons have to do with it?” Ik-soo smiled, not quite understanding, but close to it, why Naomi had a huge dragon tattooed across her back. “Dragons are important in your culture?” Naomi resisted the urge to flinch. She never spoke of her home. Never. She was a foreigner and a citizen of all lands. But she never spoke of her birthplace, never told about her people. “Yes.” She replied, her voice strained. Ik-soo’s smile deepened. “The Gods tell me many things, Akamine Naomi of Belarusia, but I always keep the confidences of Gods and their Chosen.”

Hearing her full name made something twist up inside of Naomi. He had a terrible accent, but she knew it for what it was. She hadn’t heard it in years. “Let me tell you the history of Kouka Kingdom.” He said gently, telling the tale in a rhythmic voice, so that by the time it was over, Naomi had recentered herself and calmed down. “So, we go to seek the warriors with the dragon blood in them?” She asked uncertainly, beginning to feel chilled from being in the water.

Ik-soo held out a towel and turned his head away when Naomi rose and dried herself off. She held the towel to her chest, unwilling to put the dirty clothes she had worn back on. “Yes. The Village of the White Dragon, a mist shrouded place guarded with the utmost secrecy. There, our Princess Yona will ask for the bearer of the White Dragon blood to aid her.” It all sounded like such a fairy tale, but Naomi had seen incredible things in her life. Why should there not be Four Dragon Warriors dedicated to protecting King Hiryuu? Something nagged at her.

“Why do you think the warriors will aid the Princess?” She asked. Ik-soo was silent. Naomi was intelligent enough to discern the answer for herself. “I understand in a way. The Princess is like a bright light in a very dark world. I felt drawn to her the moment I saw her. My own Lady has charged me with her care. She has to be special for a foreign God to intervene…”

It dawned on Naomi slowly. “I think I understand,” she murmured carefully, not saying it out loud. If she said it out loud she’d have to think about the repercussions. Ik-soo steepled his hands before him. “You have a sense of destiny about you, Naomi of Belarusia. I fear what it means for all the lands. I dream of Yona and she sweeps the Kingdom away in a storm that cannot be stopped so long as she lives and is uncrowned. My dreams of you are far more confusing. I see you walk and all the lands tremble. I see you blessed in blood, crowned in thorns and dressed only in shackles attached to broken chains. When you speak, men fall and break their knees on the ground to bow to you. When you scream, I hear the roar of dragons.”

His voice was mesmerizing even if the words made Naomi shiver. “While you live, Naomi of Belarusia, you will suffer terribly.” Well, she already knew that.Yet Naomi did not fear pain or suffering. She welcomed it. Only through suffering could one become stronger. There was no greater challenge to overcome. “Then I will suffer.” She said, nonchalantly, then she smiled that wicked smile. “But it will be glorious, I promise you.”

Ik-soo shivered this time. “You will suffer, my dear, so terribly it will break your spirit and twist your soul, to say nothing of your body. Can you bear it?”

Hearing it made her resolve solidify. She had been broken and had arisen from it stronger than before. She would do so again and she’d crush those who threatened her beneath her heel. “Believe me, my lord Priest. I can bear any burden for those in my heart. I will happily suffer if it will prevent them from suffering. Do not doubt my strength, Ik-soo. I am the strongest woman alive.” She said, her voice full of pain and pride. Tears came to Ik-soo’s eyes, his mind filled with images. Naomi as a child, full of laughter and adventure, later full of determination and hatred for those whom she had given herself up to. Her raw passionate love for the man who had taken her from that place and given her new purpose. The road she walked was torn and jagged, leaving bloody footprints behind her. But there was a brightness, one that gave Ik-soo hope for this glorious young woman.

“You will suffer, but I swear Naomi, as long as you live, you will always find love. Love of your Master, for the Princess, love for those you hold in your heart… your love of the King and so many others to come.”  _ So he knows _ , she thought unsurprised. It sounded like Ik-soo, by the will of the Gods, knew more about her than any living person. Naomi felt the urge to kneel so she did, not caring that she wore only a towel and goosebumped skin. Ik-soo felt the sway of the Gods.

Using one jagged thumbnail, Ik-soo cut into the skin of his wrist and drew blood. “Naomi of Belarusia, you will always love and be loved. Your heart will never again be locked in darkness. You will always feel the starbright light of the Lady upon you. Through me She anoints you with another blessing. Her blessing, in return for your pain, is love and I pray you treasure Her gift.”

Blood smeared across across her forehead and Naomi tasted honeyed sweetness on her tongue. “ _ When the Red Dragon returns the Dawn, so shall rise the Blood of the Mountains, _ ” she murmured with an echo of the Divine in her voice. Naomi didn’t understand, but she knew that it would make sense in time. These were words, right from her own Lady’s mouth. The same way Ik-soo was a Voice of the Gods, Naomi was a Priestess of the Lady of Blessed Night. An instrument of a Goddess’ will.

Ik-soo stared at her.  _ “Darkness has fallen upon the land. The Blood of the Dragons will revive once again… And the ancient pact will be kept when the four Dragons are gathered… The sword and shield which will protect the King shall awaken… And the Red Dragon shall restore the Dawn at last.” _

Gods communing. Communicating through their followers.

When it was over, Ik-soo was exhausted, but Naomi was completely at peace. She could feel wings encircling her. The Lady’s love for Naomi seeped into her soul, Her blessings pulsing within her. Strength, endurance, fast healing, seduction, stealth, on and on, ending in the last one and the one the Naomi felt so deeply. Love. Her Lady and the other Gods that now watched her, had blessed her with love. Her heart would never be the same.

She took Ik-soo’s face in her hands and kissed him, that blessing still sweet on her tongue. “Thank you, Ik-soo. Thank you.” Ik-soo, overwhelmed by the blessing that had been bestowed upon Naomi, began to tremble, “I’ve never known someone who was so touched by a God before.” Naomi sparkled as she retrieved her dirty clothes and her precious weapons.

“I’ve never met a man so kind as you, Ik-soo.” Her smile was a ray of sunshine that shone directly on the priest and he felt the world lighten with it. “Thank you. For the blessing. I haven’t felt that since I lost my Master.” Ik-soo felt the awful weight of her pain in his chest. “Was he a Priest?”

Naomi nodded, feeling the blend of pain, longing and love that she’d always felt for her beautiful Master. “He was like me. Surely the Lady loved my Master deeply. He was so blessed. Everything I am, I owe to him.” Ik-soo saw a vision of a black haired, green eyed man. He was slender and angular wearing clothing and weapons similar to what Naomi wore. There was a small smile on his face and amusement in his eyes. He was so handsome it made Ik-soo’s breath catch. Love, pure and sweet, wild and consuming filled him, looking at the beautiful man. Then another image, the same man lying on the ground, jade green eyes looking skyward blankly, four arrows protruding from his chest. His pale lips frozen with his last prayer.

Ik-soo was holding him, a black tide of despair welling up from the darkest pits of his soul. He lifted his trembling hand and saw it coated in blood. A scream of fury and sadness built in his throat when Naomi’s touch brought him back.

Her hand was surprisingly warm against his cheek and the compassion in his eyes made him choke back a sob. “That is my burden to bear, my lord Priest. I loved him and I lost him, but he never truly left me. I have strong shoulders. Do not weep for me.” Ik-soo sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “Your strength humbles me, Naomi of Belarusia.” She smiled, sweet and sad at the same time, before she walked away, headed back to the house.

Before she reached the forest’s edge she turned. “It’s nice,” she said cryptically. Ik-soo tilted his head, not understanding.

“To be reminded of home.” Her voice held such wistfulness it made Ik-soo’s heart hurt. The Gods use their chosen hard. Everything that had happened to Naomi was to make her what she was. Everything that would come would make her into who she was supposed to be. Only why did there have to be so much pain? Naomi vanished into darkness, like a spirit of the woods, her hair glowing like blood fire.

Ik-soo waited till she was gone to weep for her.

So much pain…

* * *

“Naomi, look!” The Princess’ voice called to her. Feeling joy leap inside her, Naomi looked up and smiled widely. Yoon had made her new clothes and had cut her hair so it was even and reached the top of her neck. It made her look even younger. “You look beautiful, Princess.” The clothes suited her well. A simple light pink linen dress with long open sleeves the reached her shins, and the red vest that went over it was bound with a maroon sheath tied by a light pink bow. She looked so lovely, with her eyes shining like that, it made Naomi’s chest hurt.

“Say, Naomi?” The Princess eyed her new companion who was sharpening her blades studiously. Naomi eyed the edge of the short sword she was working on with a critical eye and then continued to run the whetstone over it. “Yes, Princess?”

“Soo-won didn’t… he didn’t send you to kill us… right?” The whetstone stopped suddenly. Naomi took a deep breath, ignoring the feeling of longing that sparked whenever she heard her sweet young King’s name. “No, my Lady. He sent me to bring you back to the castle. That was my commission. Nothing more,” she continued sharpening her the short sword till she was pleased with the edge, then she sheathed it and picked up the next one. Yona couldn’t help, but stare at the cut on the other woman’s left cheekbone. It was healing remarkably fast, but Yoon had told her that it would be the only one of her scars that would never fade. Because of the poison.

“I… I never thanked you,” Yona said quickly. Naomi looked up and raised one perfect eyebrow. “For what, Princess?”

“For saving Hak and I… when the soldiers attacked… and when we fell… when Hak was bitten by that snake… I didn’t even know you were there, but you were watching over us.” Yona smiled, and Naomi’s heart tightened with feeling. She loved the Princess’ smile. “You really are our guardian angel.” Naomi remembered little Tae-yeon and missed the sweet child who had let her hold him. Naomi set her blade and whetstone aside and stood fluidly for someone who had been bedridden days before. She laid a warm hand on the Princess’ cheek, savoring the contact. The younger girl had such soft skin, the skin of a royal. Such a contrast to the rough skin of Naomi’s hand. They were practically the same height, but Naomi had Yona by a few inches.

“I will always watch over you. You might not see me all the time, but I am always there.”

Yona leaned into the hand, enjoying the feeling of the rough calloused hand. Hak had hands like that too. Roughened, but so very gentle.

“When do we leave?” Naomi asked, sitting back down, reluctant as she was to break contact with the Princess. She picked her blade back up and the rasping of the whetstone, like a music Naomi knew too well, filled the air. “Soon. We’re just packing a few things… and waiting to see if Yoon will be joining us,” Yona said the last part quietly and Naomi raised her eyebrow again. Yona wished she could do that. It made Naomi look very… sardonic. “It would be good for Yoon to come. He needs to see the world and he would be useful.” The Princess nodded and looked around, “Where did Hak go?” She wondered. Naomi jerked her head in the direction of the waterfall. “Went that way a few minutes ago. If you go now, you’ll catch up to him no problem.” The Princess turned and started walking, “I think you underestimate his stride.” She said, mock pouting and it made Naomi laugh.

The Princess was wonderful.

Naomi continued sharpening her blades till she was satisfied with all their edges. Then she stood and stretched carefully. Now that she had put her own clothes back on, she felt a little better. She wondered how strange it would be to leave this place. It was like being born again. No longer was she the Blood Lover, a cold blooded killer who cared not whom she killed or why. She was the guardian of a most precious person.

The blessing of the Lady pulsed in her. She was still getting used to all the feelings she had now. No longer would her heart be bound. She intended to embrace all that the Lady had given her. Doing any less would be ungrateful and her Master would shame her for it.

Naomi wondered what her beloved Master would think of the Lady’s blessing and who she was now. Would he be disappointed that she had given up what she had been, what he had taught her to be? Naomi shook her head and smiled. No, he wouldn’t be disappointed. He’d be proud of her for following the Lady’s command. He probably would have come with her. He would’ve seen Princess Yona for what she was and would have followed her as well, Naomi was sure of it. He’d been an assassin and a bounty hunter simply because that was what he had learned from his Master and what the Lady had commanded him to be. Had She commanded otherwise, Naomi didn’t think he’d be sad to leave that life behind.

She missed him. It had been two years since his death, but by the Lady, Naomi missed him.

_ I’m never far, little dragon _ , the memory of his voice whispered kindly in her head. She touched the bone handles of her blades. No, her Master was never far from her. She buckled all her blades back into place and reached for her bag. She didn’t carry much and she had been put out to find that her apples had been crushed in the fall. She hoped she’d be able to find more.

She felt the box in her bag, the one she had been afraid to open all this time.

Naomi pulled it out and carefully opened the hardcase.

Inside, looking no worse for wear was her Master’s shakuhachi. A pent up breath of relief escaped her. She had been terrified that the flute had been broken when she and the weight of the Princess and Hak had landed on it, but the case was hardy. There was no damage to the bamboo flute. She took it into her hands, caressing it lovingly. The smooth wood beneath her fingers soothed her and she gently brought the mouthpiece to her lips again began to play.

The notes, mellow and sweet filled the space in front of the house, becoming part of the world. She felt her spirits rise with the music, her offering of gratitude for the Lady of Blessed Night for all of Her blessings and guidance. She could feel her Master’s lean strong arms around her. _ Ah, my little dragon, you have grown into such an exquisite beauty… _

Naomi remembered that glorious night, two days before he would be taken from her, when Naomi had broken his walls and he had admitted… oh, he had finally told her that he loved her. He had been so aloof in all the years she had known him, keeping the distance by claiming mentors shouldn’t be so close to their students, but Naomi wasn’t just any student. She was the one who held his heart.

The music grew bittersweet as Naomi remembered.

He had admitted that he loved her hair. Had with hesitation, twirled a fine lock of blood red hair around his long strong finger, that played the flute so beautifully. Lips that rarely smile had been so soft against her own. Until that point she had used sex as a weapon. She had never known pleasure in bed unless she used it to take a life.

That night she had found the incredible joy in giving herself to someone she loved. After that night, he was still aloof, but in Naomi’s eyes she knew something had changed. There was a light in his eyes when he looked at her, he took more opportunities to touch her, whether her hair and a light brush of fingers against the back of her hand. She slept nestled in the curve of his body with his arms wrapped around her, fingers stroking her arm, stroking her face.

His rich voice had whispered in their native tongue all the things she swore she’d never hear from him. Her heart had emerged a bit from the chains all those years of hardship had forced her to wrap it in. She had felt the fire in her chest as all her dreams came true. He had loved her. He had always wanted her. He was proud of who she had become. He admired her strength, her wit and her beauty. Naomi could imagine their life. They would retire early, collecting what they’d earn separately till they would go… home. To Belarusia. Together they would overthrow the Warlords who deferred always to the Kaitai Empire. They would free their home and then settle down together, wealthy and happy and no one would ever hurt them again.

Those dreams had died along with the fire in her heart hours later when those three rival assassins had tried to kill her.

That night had killed her heart and set her on the path for the next two years. She had killed so many people in the weeks that followed, her reputation had skyrocketed. She had just been trying to ease to agony left in the wake of his death. Just trying to outlast the emptiness that threatened to take her down. It eased once she had avenged him, but she had never been able to heal her heart. She had bound it in chain after chain of apathy, hatred, and fear.

No longer.

When the offering reached the end of its course, she turned her face to the sky and smiled. She hadn’t felt so light since she was a child.

“That was beautiful.” A deep voice murmured and she saw Hak standing there, leaning against a tree. “Thank you,” she replied, putting the instrument away. “That’ll weigh you down though.” He pointed out. Naomi shook her head, “I’ve carried it for years and I’ve grown accustomed to its weight. It’s nothing really.”

He peeked in her bag. There wasn’t much. A few changes of clothes, her whetstone in its pouch, some dried meat from the last time Naomi had been to market… which she couldn’t remember so it had been a while. A woolen blanket rolled up tightly and a jar of ointment for her scars. There was the flute case and a couple of coins she hadn’t put in the pouches bound to her belt.

“You travel light for a girl.” Naomi shrugged. “You travel lighter,” she responded, noting that he didn’t carry anything. He carried a bow and quiver on his back and his massive glaive over his powerful shoulders. He was a large man and very attractive, but Naomi didn’t feel the usual urge to seduce him.

_ He’s too much like me… like a brother… _ She thought, chuckling inside her head. And his feelings for the Princess were so obvious, Naomi being who she was, couldn’t help but notice. “Are we leaving?” Hak nodded. “As soon as Yoon is packed and ready.” Naomi smiled suddenly. “He’s decided to come with us?” Hak nodded again. “I’m glad. He will be most useful with his knowledge of medicine and his housewife skills,” she said happily and Hak laughed at the words ‘housewife skills’. Naomi cocked her head, confused. “Is that not the term for it?” Sometimes she had trouble with certain translations. “No, no, it’s perfect,” Hak said, still laughing.

Naomi chose to accept this and stood up. She was still bandaged, but her clothes hid them well and she slung her bag onto her back. “Call me when we are leaving. I want to check something out,” she started walking and waved her hand. Excitement buzzed inside her. 

Finally, they were off!


	8. Chapter Eight

Naomi lounged in the trees as Yoon bartered for rice. She had assured them that she would be fine ranging ahead. She preferred it actually. She’d never really traveled with others and after an hour of walking with them, Naomi remembered why. So she had ascended to the trees and had kept a careful watch over them from above. If the trees ended, she would walk on ahead of them, eyes constantly looking for danger. It was a good arrangement.

Naomi would be able to spot an attack long before the Princess reached it and she would either warn them and have them hide or, Naomi thought diffidently, she would eliminate the threat and clean up before the rest of her group joined.

Yes, it was a good arrangement.

Naomi saw the bag over Hak’s shoulder squirm and he moved it around roughly trying to cover the movement. Naomi knew the Princess did not like that particular arrangement. She was bagged and over Hak’s shoulder to keep her from being recognized. Naomi didn’t see much sense in this as it was doubtful, as long as she kept her hair covered, that anyone would recognize the young girl as the kingdom’s Princess.

There was no incident so Naomi stayed hidden in the trees. It was funny, but no one ever seemed to look up.

The red haired assassin kept her own mottled cloak around her with the hood pulled up. The cloak was the invention of one of her Master’s close acquaintances in the Sei Kingdom’s underworld. The mottled blacks, dark browns and dark greens, broke up the wearer’s body and helped them blend in. Oftentimes if Naomi kept still, she could vanish into the background with someone looking right at her.

It startled even Hak when she appeared out of nowhere.

She was on full alert, always. They were close to the Fire Tribe lands and it’s capital. It would be disastrous if they were caught there. Naomi was confident though. She could deal with anything that came along, including Fire Tribe patrols. They were headed to the mountains the separated the Northern border of Kouka from the Southern border of the Kai Empire. Naomi didn’t like the idea of getting that close to the Kai Empire, but she accepted it. The Village of the White Dragon lay inside the range, surrounded by mist. Being back in the mountains made a part of Naomi happy. She was mountain born, same as Hak, though her mountains were far, far away.

She spotted the cart and cupped her hands. She could perfectly imitate many kinds of bird calls. Owls at night. Songbirds during the day. She gave her signal and moved to where the best attack position would be. Naomi saw with surprise the Princess walking past them blithely with her hood up to cover her hair. Nothing happened.

Ha, point proven.

Naomi ranged ahead, coming back to check on her precious party. They seemed to get along well. It made Naomi a little sad. Here she was, once again high in the trees, watching them pass beneath her. But her presence would draw too much attention and she didn’t quite yet fit into the group dynamic. She was a little too different from them.

She was good at Night’s watch though. And they liked her singing.

When her charges got restless at night, she would sing to them. She remembered old lullabies she had learned at her Mother’s knee and would sing them in her native tongue. It wasn’t long before they all cuddled up to sleep closer to her. She would run her fingers through their hair and sing until it was Hak’s turn to take watch. She usually let him sleep a little more though. She could go farther on less sleep than any of them. A gift from her Lady.

She especially enjoyed nighttime when she got to be close to the Princess. She was as kind and innocent as Naomi had thought, but there was a yearning to learn. The red haired girl asked Naomi all sorts of carefully phrased questions. Naomi knew that Yona was trying not to offend her, but Naomi didn’t mind the questions. She liked the Princess’ curiosity. It meant she was intelligent.

Yoon proved to be every bit as useful as Naomi had thought, not to mention that his road food was quite delicious.

There came a day on their journey that Naomi glanced down and surprisingly saw Hak handing the Princess the bow and quiver he usually carried on his back. Naomi had to wonder why. King Il hated weapons, Naomi knew very well. She couldn’t think of why his daughter would be wanting one. Could she bring herself to kill? She was so young and innocent, so could she take a man’s life and not look back? Naomi didn’t think so.

Naomi had lost all her innocence long before she took her first kill. Her sins were already mountainous so why not add murder to the list? But Naomi wished to keep that from her sweet Princess as long as possible. She didn’t want Yona to have blood on her hands, the kind that never washed off. The red haired assassin’s hands were so stained, it hardly mattered if it fell on her hands.  _ I won’t let her put a stain on her soul if I can help it _ , she thought fiercely.

Naomi ranged, thinking and praying when she felt it necessary. Till she had an arrow nearly knock her out of her tree. Thinking it was an attack, she dropped to the ground and ran for her group. She was floored when she realized she wasn’t being fired at. The Princess was just an abominable shot. “What’s going on?” She huffed, putting her fists on her hips. Hak looked up confused. “Yo, Naomi. Can you shoot?” Naomi shrugged. “I’m a decent shot, why?”

He pointed up. “Can you shoot that bird?” Naomi looked at saw the fat thing lazily flying overhead. She held her hand out and the Princess stared at her with fierce concentration. Naomi easily pulled the bowstring back, sighted and loosed in a matter of seconds. The bird fell dead five feet in front of her, the arrow right through its chest. “See?” Hak said, looking at Yona who still didn’t look like she understood. “How’d you do that?” Naomi smiled and handed the bow back to the Princess. “Practice.” Yona groaned and Yoon chuckled.

Hak loosed and brought down another bird, much to Yona’s frustration. She didn’t get how they could do it. Naomi at least talked her through some of it, but Hak wasn’t great on the explaining part. Prodigies don’t understand how the incompetent feel. Hak might have been born with the ability to use any weapon with ease, but Naomi had been born with only her ability to climb and her ability to charm. Her Father had never been able to resist his oldest daughter when she wanted something. Her skills came with practice. What set her above others were her blessings, but no one knew about those except Ik-soo.

“She’s not strong enough to hold the bowstring back long enough to aim without shaking.” Hak said. To be fair, it was a heavy bow. Naomi was impressed the Princess could draw it at all. “Well…” Naomi said, thinking out loud and the Princess looked at her, “I could teach her the Rigmar. It builds strength, flexibility and lays the groundwork for swordsmanship.” It was strange, she had never tried to teach anyone anything and she wondered how she would do it.

“It’d be a good start,” Hak said, wondering if he could watch without being creepy.

So Naomi took on a role she never planned to take on: Teacher. The Rigmar was the first thing her Master had ever taught her and she sought to resemble him in her teachings. She didn’t just teach the Princess either. She had strong armed Yoon and Hak into doing it as well.

Even Hak found many of the forms and movements somewhat strenuous. He could feel the fighter’s moves within the simple dance and was highly impressed that this was Naomi’s groundwork. If the Princess could master the Rigmar, she’d be set up to learn any fighting style. It was hard for him to think of his precious Princess on a battlefield. Part of it excited him. Most of him was terrified.

At night, he and Naomi observed her practicing her archery, growing better each night she practiced. She shot over 250 arrows in a single night followed by the part of the Rigmar she learned that morning. Her hands grew raw and Naomi rubbed ointment on her every night, reminding herself that the Princess needed to develop the callouses to protect herself from the snap of the bowstring. Yona grew a little stronger every day.

Then they reached the mist.

Naomi didn’t like it as it obscured her vision. “Yoon? I’m coming down. I can’t see anything up here,” she called gently as she descended from the trees. Yoon found her. “We’re close.” She looked around. “Where are the other two?” Yoon’s brow furrowed as he looked carefully at the map. “Archery practice, I think.”

Naomi made a noise of agreement and looked at the map as well. Yoon, as it were, was the same height as Naomi. “Let’s keep going, they’ll catch up,” Yoon said briskly, “I’m glad you’re here with me though.” He looked at the young assassin and smiled, “Hak protects the Princess, but I can’t protect myself at all so now I can leave my safety in your hands!” He laughed and Naomi smiled. “I’ll take care of you, Yoon. I promise.”

They walked a while in the mist. It made Naomi antsy and her hands kept going to the swords on her hips. “Easy, Naomi. We’re fine,” Yoon murmured, feeling uncomfortable as well.

“ _ Begone.” _

Naomi whipped around, drawing her swords. Her hood was still up so she’d be hard to spot through the mist. She muscles coiled in preparation for battle. She was sure that she had just heard many voices in the mist. It curled around her, teasing her with shadows.

“Show yourselves!” She yelled, trying to put herself between Yoon and whatever was out there. “ _ The Gods will punish you if you come any further. _ ” A deep resounding voice said. Yet Naomi didn’t hear anything Divine in that voice. “Your Gods are cowardly if they send their followers to hide in the mist. Face me!” She yelled, circling. She wished she was in the trees, a silent predator. But with Yoon to protect, Naomi was now the prey.

“ _ Begone, or suffer the consequences. _ ” The voice said implacably. Yoon was almost shaking. “I will protect you,” She said with that fierceness that Yoon had come to love. “Come out of the mist, little Gods. Either fight me or let us through. We have business with the village in the mist.” There was a tense silence.

Naomi heard a noise like a sharp breath and shoved Yoon out of the way as a dart whistled past him. Three more stuck in her arm and soon there were darts coming from all around her.  _ Oh Lady, please, not more poison…  _ They sank into any available skin, feeling like little pricks.

“Naomi!” Yoon yelled as she fell and he threw himself on top of her. There was a dart in the side of her neck and he pulled it out. “Naomi? Naomi! Stay with me!” He shook her. “Yoon. Go... Run,” She said, her words slurring. “I’m not leaving you. Stay away from her! Leave us alone!” He yelled at someone, but Naomi tried to tell him to run one more time before she fell into a deep darkness.

* * *

The world was dark and when she could open her eyes, she felt a spark of annoyance that someone had once again gotten the jump on her when she was supposed to be protecting another person. She wasn’t quite yet good at this whole bodyguard business.

She became aware that someone was with her and was yelling angrily. She was bound hands and feet and her weapons her missing. A line of drool dripped from her mouth onto the wooden floor. She moaned as her head swam.

“Naomi! Thank goodness you’re okay. Hey! She needs water!” Naomi opened her eyes and saw Yoon, bound similarly, who was yelling and kicking the bars. “Let us out! This is in very poor taste, you know! Putting two beautiful people in a cage!”

Naomi tried to chuckle, but it turned into a cough. “Sorry, Yoon. I should have done a better job protecting you,” she whispered. Her head still felt a little funny, but her body was processing whatever had been forced into her system as quickly as it could. “Don’t worry about that. Are you okay? They pumped you with enough drugs to down a tiger. Just stay still.” Yoon said, looking concerned. There was a strange glitter in Naomi’s deep blue eyes that made him very nervous.

“I’m fine, dear boy. Give me another minute and my head will clear up.” Her slim fingers worked at the knots that bound her hands. There was a single guard over the cage and he wasn’t paying much attention to Yoon’s ranting. He must have been yelling for quite some time, which Naomi was pleased with. If they were ignoring what went on in the cage, Naomi would be able to escape easier.

She was still slightly unsure how she was supposed to take out all the warriors, plus whenever the dragon came roaring down, but she figured she’d deal with that later.  _ Tsk, tsk, little dragon. Always have a plan. _ She ground her teeth to prevent her from snapping at her Master’s imaginary voice in her head. The rope around her wrists fell easily.

Using Yoon as cover, she fiddled with the ropes around her ankles. Once free, she smiled. “Yoon, don’t scream,” She whispered, coiling her body in tight, her back against the bars. “Why would I- oh.” He said, as Naomi push against the bars and lashed out with her feet. Two of the wooden bars flew away and Naomi tumbled after them, rolling easily to her feet.

She held her hands in a strange way, preparing to use a technique she had learned from some energy workers in the far west of the Kai Empire after her Master’s passing. They called it Chi Blocking. It was considered a nonviolent form of defense that Naomi rarely used, but she didn’t want to harm these people and ruin any chance of getting the White Dragon on their side.

Her middle joint stuck out from the fist so that when she struck, the knuckle was the point of impact. A villager rushed at her angrily and she struck him precisely with two strikes on his arm as he punched, rendering it dead, then finished with two more across his back, grounding him. Two more fell the same way. It seemed impossible and illogical that a few touches could render a man’s arms and legs invalid, but Naomi could do it. Just barely. As long as they didn’t mob her. Now, if they did that, Naomi would forget the nonviolent techniques and go with what she was actually good at.

“Naomi!” A sweet voice called. It washed over her like silk and Naomi pivoted and saw Hak and the Princess standing perfectly fine with an older villager… they seemed to be getting a tour.

“Yo,” she said, not dropping her fists, “Get them to let Yoon out and I won’t hurt anybody.” She said with a steely calm that made Hak’s hair stand on end. Naomi was not pleased. “Oh, we apologize for our treatment of your companions. Let him out. And don’t touch that one.” Naomi waited till Yoon was free before she relaxed, but she stayed poised on the balls of her feet, feeling entirely naked without her weapons.

“Red hair! Oh, she has red hair! Red hair! Red hair!” The villagers cried at seeing the Princess. Naomi was relieved that they hadn’t removed her hood. Must have been Yoon. She was too recognizable. Naomi hunkered down in her cloak, though it had become a reasonably warm day. “Can I have my things back please?” She asked, sliding closer to the Princess. Her eyes raked over Yona, reassuring her that she was okay.

“Bring her possessions!” The old man yelled and a younger man hightailed it away, presumably for Naomi’s weapons. “I don’t like this, Hak,” she whispered. So many eyes were looking at them. The assassin in her was screaming to find cover, a place to hide, somewhere out of sight. “Easy. sprite. You’ll feel better with your blades on you.” He rubbed a rough hand down her arm and she flinched. She tried to hide it, but Hak noticed everything. “Are you okay?” He asked and the Princess turned, hearing the concern in his voice. She almost snapped at them to leave her be, but she kept it behind her teeth. They wouldn’t understand how she felt. Her silence was heavy.

Finally, the young man raced back, his arms full of unsheathed blades.

She let out a sigh of relief when she slipped her last blade into its sheath. She did feel a

bit better. Not a lot, but better. “They’ll be fine in a bit, by the way,” she said, shrugging a shoulder at the men who lay sprawled on the ground, unable to make their limbs work. Hak coughed in amusement.

“Come.” Motioned the older man once he saw the hooded figure’s shoulders relax a touch and he led them to a large tree in the middle of what looked like a park. Naomi wanted to climb it.

“Please forgive us our rudeness earlier. This is the place where one of the four dragons, Lord Hakuryuu drifted when his duty came to a close after the war during the time of legend. Up until now with have eliminated all bandits and other heinous people who have wanted to obtain the power of Lord Hakuryuu. It is our clan’s honourable mission to protect Lord Hakuryuu and ensure that the bloodline is passed on. That is why we do not allow outsiders to simply enter this land.”  _ Sheesh, he sounds like Father _ , Naomi thought, edging her way toward the tree. The Princess was drawing a crowd, all of them wanting to see and touch her hair.

Protecting the bloodlines, protecting the land. She had heard that song before and she had watched it crumble under the might of the Empire. She hoped she would not see the day that this quiet little village looked like her homeland where fear of the Warlords crept through the streets and desperation hung around every doorstep.

Once she was far enough from the group that no one would notice her, she quickly climbed the solid old tree and settled in the branches, immediately relaxing now that she was away from all those eyes, hidden, the way she liked to be.

Her looks often made her stand out and she could work a crowd if she had to. Confidence was everything when you were a woman and an assassin. She could shine brilliantly if she had to, but there was a large part of her that would always shy away from being looked at too much. The part of her that was still a fearful child because being noticed meant pain or death. As an assassin, she wasn’t supposed to be seen when she was working. This was nothing if not a job. Her job was to protect the Princess, Hak and Yoon and, as she had already proven when the village warriors attacked, she didn’t do very well protecting out in the open.

“Um, sir, why is the young lady in the tree?” The old man asked nervously, spotting her. She grimaced and didn’t say anything. Hak would do the talking for her. “Eh? What are you…” Hak looked up and she waved slightly. He grinned and gave a theatrical sigh. “That’s Naomi. She’s a foreigner from a far away land. She likes being high up, don’t worry about her.” This drew some odd looks and people began to look up too. So much for hidden, she thought pouting and she pulled her cloak farther around her and her hood more forward so that no one could see her face. Her hands traced the hilts of her short swords till she calmed down.

Soon, they would meet the White Dragon and he would come with them and then they could leave. She was curious though. Everyone in the village was somehow related to the first Lord Hakuryuu, but only one was blessed with the true power of the White Dragon. Claws that could rip through anything. She wondered what he would look like. She had already discerned that all the dragon blooded warriors would be male, which was strange to Naomi.

After all, her people were descended from the Great One; King of Kings, the Great Dragon God. The one God they were not allowed to pray to. The Great One cared not for gender or status. Some of her people’s most famous heroes were peasants, whose veins carried the blessings of the Great One itself.

But as she realized long ago, many nations were strange compared to hers.

Naomi was deep in thought, humming a song that she could barely remember as she traced a pattern of flowers over her thigh with one finger. The Princess sat below her, hood drawn, with Hak next to her and Yoon staring around the village a few paces off. “Oi, Sprite! Come down, please. You’re giving me the creeps with you just lurking up there,” Hak yelled, throwing a stick up at her. Sighing, she caught the stick and ever so carefully dropped it back on Hak’s head before she descended.

He was rubbing the sore spot and muttering uncomplimentary things about irritating forest sprites and Naomi gracefully sat cross-legged next to her Princess. “Are you alright?” She asked gently, seeing the young girl’s pensive expression. “Just thinking you know? I came to borrow this power that’s been passed down through so many generations and well… I just don’t know if I’m worthy.” Naomi began tearing up blades of grass and braiding them together.  _ You are more worthy than you can imagine, Princess.  _ She didn’t say it out loud, but she smiled. “Don’t worry about that now. He’ll come with us. I know it.” Hak leaned forward and looked at her with a dark glitter in his eyes. “The Lady wills it?” She turned and smiled wryly at him. She wasn’t insulted. To foreigners, she knew her devoutness was odd, but she was from a people whose Gods walked alongside them.

“Something like that.” Naomi caught the Princess’ smile right as she grabbed his sword from his side. “Hak, lend me your sword!” She said as she took and unsheathed it, pointing it at them. From anyone else, Naomi would have reacted with steel of her own. But with her precious Princess, she was perfectly fine being at the point of a sword. If the Princess wanted her blood, she could have it.

“I’ve made my decision. I won’t turn back. And if the White Dragon won’t help us, you’ll both have to train me more.” Hak and Naomi smiled indulgently. Naomi didn’t see an issue with teaching the young Princess to fight. She had done well with the Rigmar. Her body was not yet too old to be trained.

Movement drew her eyes to a man striding towards them wearing the same white and blue robes as everyone in the village. Only his were of slightly finer quality and… Naomi glanced to his right hand.

It was fearsome to be sure. It was twice the size of his left hand and covered in beautiful white scales with wicked claws at least two inches long. There were bandages around his wrist leading to beneath his sleeve.

And he was beautiful. Like an angel descended. Pure white hair that was shorn below his ear lobes except for a section above his neck that was left long to his mid back and pale skin so white it was almost translucent. He had an angelic face and turquoise blue eyes full of fire.

He strode towards them angrily and Naomi stood, ready to fight if need be. She didn’t want to fight this beautiful young man, but he looked furious and he was brimming with power.

“You woman!” He yelled at the Princess who had Hak’s sword in her hand. Yona turned, her hood falling off revealing that crimson red hair and the man, the White Dragon, was brought to a full halt, staring wide eyed in surprise.

Naomi waited for him to attack when a pain expression shot across his delicate features. He grunted and the Hand of the White Dragon exploded outward, now huge. It was easily ten times the size of his human hand and Naomi felt a trickle of what might have been fear or awe, run down her spine. Lord Hakuryuu grabbed the arm, sweating and breathing in a way that told Naomi he was trying not to scream.

What in the name of…

The power she had felt intensified to the point that Naomi couldn’t breathe. Such power! Where had this come from? She knelt on the ground to keep from being swept away by it and tried to close herself off from it. The Lady decided elsewise.

_ Warriors of the Four Dragons! You are now our other halves. You will serve Hiryuu as your master, and protect him with your lives. You will love him, and never betray him. _

The White Dragon screamed as the voice ripped through him. Naomi stayed silent, but it was hard. Such a command, such power. She heard the Divine in the words and wondered who had spoken just then.

Then the power receded slowly and the Lord Hakuryuu fainted. “Naomi, what is it?” She breathed deeply, never taking her eyes off the prone figure. “By all the Gods,” she whispered in her native tongue before standing and going to the White Dragon.

The villagers lost it. They were trying to touch him, help him, anything. But he was burning up. Those who touched him got burned. “Back up!” She said, forcefully, going to his side. She had a particular resistance to heat and she gently laid him on his back. Yoon put his bag beneath his head and stared at both him and Naomi in amazement. “How can you touch him? I can feel his heat from here.” She shrugged, the movement moving her hood far enough back that it fell.

“Red hair? Another red haired person? What could this mean?” She cursed in her native tongue and pulled it back over her head. Princess Yona came and knelt next to Naomi. “Why did you kneel?” She asked quietly. “Too much power. Kneeling kept me from getting knocked on my ass,” she replied snarkily. It made the Princess chuckle.

She could touch the White Dragon, but his right hand proved to be even too hot from Naomi to handle for long. She brushed a hand over his head, his hair soft beneath her fingers. What a lovely young man, she thought. He groaned a little and his eyes fluttered. Yona leaned over him. “Are you okay?” She asked, genuinely concerned.

His eyes found the Princess and he stared at her face as if it was the first time he’d ever seen something beautiful. He leaned forward, Naomi ready to catch him if he fell. She could feel the new bond between the Princess and the White Dragon. It was unlike anything Naomi had felt before. It fascinated her.

“Um, White Dragon…” The Princess said unsure. “Yes, I have inherited the ancient dragon’s blood.” He said formally and then he turned positions and prostrated himself before the Princess. Naomi was shocked, but all she did was raise an eyebrow. Someone that proud wouldn’t kneel before just anyone. “I have been waiting for you, my master!” He said exultantly. Hak looked at Naomi’s face and wondered if her eyebrow could rise any higher.

“Master? What are you talking about?” The Princess said, confused. Then she turned and saw all the villagers, foreheads to the ground in the same fashion as the White Dragon. When Lord Hakuryuu raised his head, he gazed adoringly at the Princess, blind to everything else. “Congratulations, Lord Hakuryuu! Our king had finally appeared!” The old man who had been rambling on earlier said crying joyous tears.

Someone tried to hug Naomi and she shoved them off. “King?” Princess Yona said, looking more confused by the minute. “They think you’re the King.” Hak said, also looking confused. Yoon was the only one who kept a poker face. “Maybe they think you’re King Hiryuu because you have red hair.”  _ Yep, definitely keeping my hood up and next chance I get, I’m dying my hair black. _ Naomi thought, pushing away another happy villager who didn’t understand Naomi’s firm belief in personal space.

“My master… please tell me your name.” Lord Hakuryuu said reverently.  _ Maybe if I climb up the tree they’ll stop trying to include me in the celebration. _ “Yona,” the Princess said, still so unsure. “Lady Yona.” The White Dragon uttered, the name sounding like a caress.

“Hak… a little help here.” Naomi muttered, going around and hiding behind the large man. “If you climb up me, I will throw you,” He muttered out of the corner of his mouth. It pleased him that Naomi trusted him though. He never remembered how small she was till she did something like this. Yona and the White Dragon conversed and Naomi leaned into Hak’s back taking strength from his solidness. There were too many people trying to touch her. It was freaking her out. She couldn’t run, couldn’t hide, couldn’t lash out at these people. She started to shake just a little.

Hak didn’t know about Naomi’s aversion to being touched by strangers without her permission, but he had a sense of it. If she initiated the contact, she was fine. Without that initiation, Naomi didn’t appreciate the contact one bit. Only Yona could touch the red haired assassin without that initial contact. He glared at the villagers trying to touch her till they got the message and slinked off.

When they did, Naomi looked up at him, her deep eyes brimming with thanks. He didn’t ask, but he liked that she felt he was safe. “Elder, I will be leaving immediately with my master.” The old man agreed, but before anyone could do anything a very angry, very old lady, came charging in on her litter. “What are you saying?!” She yelled, the way only old ladies could, and knocked the other man out of the way. “We must have a banquet first! Prepare a banquet to celebrate King Hiryuu’s revival!” Apparently, she was the matriarch of the family because everyone leapt to do her bidding.

“Red haired King, we have been waiting for you.” The old lady said, bowing as far as she could. “Your beautiful blazing hair, wise and lovely eyes, and smooth skin… I regret that you do not have these things…” She said mournfully. Naomi snorted into Hak’s back and let go of him.

“Thank you.” She said, her accent slipping a bit. “You would have frightened them off in a bit, sprite. I just sped up the process.” She gave him that wicked smile he was becoming so familiar with. “I’m frightening, huh?” He gave the end of her braid a tug before tucking it back into her hood. “Terrifying. C’mon, let’s get ready for this whatever.”

Naomi pondered to herself and walked between Yoon and Hak. Yoon, having saw what had happened, held out a hand which Naomi took after a moment’s hesitation. She gave the hand a squeeze and let go. She had made a painful decision. “I’ll see you all later,” she said lightheartedly, headed for the forest. “Aren’t you going to come to the celebration?” The Princess called to her. Naomi gave her a sweet smile. “I’m not a festival kind of person. I’m going to go take a nap.” She said, winking at Hak who blushed.

Naomi hadn’t had the intention at the moment of bedding down with a villager, but part of her liked that idea. Maybe it would get some of the tension out of her body. “I’ll find you later, don’t worry.” She began to stride away when Yoon asked her something that made her want to double over.

“Do your people have festivals? Didn’t you ever go to one?”

Ah, the festivals back home sure had sounded like fun. She’d only ever heard them through the walls of her family home. She had been considered too young to go to anything, but the feast beforehand. She’d never been allowed to dance.

“Aye, we have festivals.” She said, striding off.  _ I never attended one though. I missed so much of my life for one choice. _

“Pity. My Mother would have been proud to see me dance.” She murmured to herself. Then she climbed into the trees and vanished from sight.


	9. Chapter Nine

Naomi didn’t attend the festival as she had said she would, instead she had gone through the advanced Rigmar till her wounds ached and then swam around in a little river that she found while wandering. It was pleasantly cool, but not cold and she swam and splashed till she was clean. She even cleaned her clothes, leaving them to dry in the trees.

She didn’t seduce any of the villagers though. The thought of it made her uncomfortable. She resolved to sleep with a reasonably attractive person in the next anonymous town they encountered. Then she dozed and drew figures in the sand, enjoying the sun on her skin. It was nice to be alone with only herself to think of. With Hak and Lord Hakuryuu with the Princess and Yoon, she was alright with taking some time to recenter herself. If those two couldn’t keep her safe in the village of all places, she’d beat them senseless herself.

What troubled her most was her memories of her home. In the past eleven years, she had barely thought of the land she had given up. She’d avoided thinking about her beautiful mother and her warm, proud father. She’d avoided most especially the memories of her baby sister. The treasure of her whole world. In her heart, she could hear the beat of the drums and the voices rising out of the night calling the children of the Great One to dance. Still naked, Naomi traced the steps of one of the traditional dances of her people.

She had learned the dances from others who were enslaved like herself. The older ones wanted to make sure that the younger generation, though far from the motherland, remembered their people’s traditions. Naomi couldn’t remember the name of the sixteen year old who had been with her, who had taught her the songs and dances she had been considered too young to learn by her Mother. She had learned them all fairly well before her companion had been staked out in the Courtyard. Naomi shuddered to think about it.

That night, her sleep was tortured by dreams. She used to dream of her long forgotten past, now she dreamt of the recent past. The poison, the fall, her failures…

She dreamt of her beloved Master and wished he were there with her. He could’ve explained all the unruly emotions inside her, could have soothed the anxiety that rushed through her whenever too many people were looking at her. But he wasn’t, so Naomi knew after the third time of gasping awake that she would have to solve her problems on her own. She could see her Master, his sharp black eyebrow raising, his firm beautiful lips quirking in challenge.

_ Can you bear it? _She heard Ik-soo whisper. She bared her teeth in a savage smile. She had lived with nightmares for most of her life. If this is the beginning, then let it begin! She thought fiercely. As the sun began to rise on the day of their departure, Naomi stretched and performed the full Rigmar in all its speed and beauty. Her wounds were close to being strong enough for her to remove the bandages and the lacquer. She was returning to her original state of health, before the poison. The scar on her face had scabbed over and was finally healing. Yoon had told her that the skin beneath the scar would forever be numb though thanks to that terrible poison.

_ Be brave, little dragon. The dawn awaits. _

* * *

The group with its new addition left the Village of the White Dragon that morning and Naomi waited in the treeline for them. She wasn’t big on goodbyes and she didn’t want to have to pretend that she was sad to leave. She was inclined to kindness for the generosity they had shown to her wayward Princess, but she had spent most of her time avoiding them if she could. She didn’t think they’d be too heartbroken to see the foreigner gone from their village. They thought she was a ghost.

But they had given her apples so she forgave them for that.

She munched on one as her group finally descended towards the forest. They would start down the mountain and Naomi had already scouted their path. She was slightly tired from her broken sleep, but she was fine. She’d feel better once she could be around the Princess again. 

So she crept along in the trees, enjoying being back out on the road again. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she wasn’t the navigator in their group. If they wanted her opinion, they would ask. Hak broke her reverie half way down the mountain when he threw a stick in her general direction. “Naomi~!” She rolled her eyes, walked to the end of the branch and dropped down right in front of the group, her cloak flaring around her, startling everyone except Hak. “You know, there isn’t much use in me being a hidden scout if you throw things at me and bellow my name loud enough to wake the dead,” she said rising and putting her hands on her hips.

Hak grinned. “I almost hit you, didn’t I?” Naomi chuckled darkly, “Not even close, Raijuu.” She pulled her hood off and her braid fell over her left shoulder. The White Dragon was staring at her in surprise. “So, why did you call me down?” She asked, her eyes scanning each of her group carefully. “Kija wanted to meet you,” Princess Yona piped up, smiling sweetly. Naomi softened when she looked at her precious person. Then she looked at Lord Hakuryuu. “Kija? We’ve already met,” she said to the striking young man. “Where are you from?” He asked in wonder. Naomi’s smile could’ve frozen a river in summer. “Nowhere.” She replied in a gentle manner that made Hak and Yoon flinch.

“Y-You just talk very… interestingly… and your hair...” A red blush crept across Kija’s face. He was so pale that any blush would be impossible to hide. “I am from everywhere and nowhere.” Kija nodded, still wondering at her hair. “I’m not of Kouka though. Many of my native people have hair like this. I got it from my Father.” She twisted the braid around her finger. On some unspoken agreement, the group began walking once more. “I didn’t see you at the village.” Kija ventured, walking next to Naomi, but keeping a respectful distance. Naomi shrugged. “I’m not fond of crowds. I stayed hidden most of the time we were in the village. I make people uncomfortable.” She didn’t mind that. Sometimes it was useful that her looks and accent were so off putting. “Naomi is my guardian angel.” The Princess said smiling that wonderful smile. Both Naomi and Kija melted upon seeing it. “I, um, yes… do we know where we are headed?” Naomi said, strapping some steel back into her spine.

“Kija can sense the other dragons! It’s really useful! He says the closest one is Seiryuu.” Naomi smiled at Kija and he was taken aback by the sweetness of that smile. There are many facets to this other red haired girl, some comforting, some terrifying, Kija thought. “That’s excellent. I’m glad we have you along!” Kija blushed, but this time not in shame, but in pride. Naomi could be scary, but he had seen the way she looked at the Princess. She was beautiful in such a strange way but when she looked at Princess Yona, Naomi became radiant.

They began to converse in an easy manner, Naomi relaxing in her group’s presence. She handed out apples which they all ate happily. The Princess told Kija of how they had met Naomi with Naomi interjecting every once in a while with a comment or an anecdote.

They reached a stream and Naomi went down a ways to fill her water skin. Kija is sweet, she thought smiling. He took his role seriously and it showed in everything he said and did. He had been raised his whole life to serve his Master. He, finally, after such a long line of White Dragon’s before him, had found the person he was meant to serve. There was a sense of strength and grace to him that Naomi admired. His loyalty would never be in question either. Naomi had seen how he looked at the Princess. She wondered how the Blue Dragon would be.

She filled her water skin and splashed her face with water. It was cool and sweet. She splashed her face a few more times and rubbed some of the water on the back of her neck. It was doing this that she heard a rustle not far from her.

Her hand stilled and her body tuned into the world around her. _ Danger _, it whispered and Naomi slowly took her braid out and wound it in a large bun at the crown of her head. She stood up, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply. When she opened them, she saw the knife at her throat. “What a beauty. You’ll go for a lot at the market.” An ugly voice said behind her. She smiled, still not having moved a muscle. The market? No, never again would she be sold like livestock. She’d murder the world before another person owned her life again.

The knife was shoddy workmanship and the stench of the man behind her screamed ‘bandit’.

They were in the Fire Tribe’s land and could not be found out. _ No survivors _, the Lady whispered in Naomi’s soul. “As the Lady commands.” She murmured. “What was that, bitch? Turn around and put your hands-AH!” he never got to finish. Naomi had slit his throat and gutted him before he could utter another word. Naomi had turned to avoid the blood splash and then, after his heart stopped beating, picked the body up and threw it into the trees. She didn’t want the river to be spoiled by his rotting corpse.

Beneath her feet, she could feel the movements of the other bandits.

She slipped into the woods, pulling the short swords from her hips, the bone handles smooth beneath her palms and fingers.

The bandits never knew they were now being hunted. She climbed into the trees and followed their movements till she came upon the group surrounding Hak and Kija. Yoon and the Princess were hidden in some brush and Naomi grinned seeing the Princess’ hands itching for her bow.

“Well, who would’ve thought we’d find prey out here?” One of the dirty men said, leering at the two men. “They don’t look like they have much.” Another said. “Oh, they’re just bandits.” Hak said bored. He still hadn’t unwrapped his glaive. Naomi grinned, carefully stowing her cloak in her bag. She stuck the bag in the branches and crept to a better position. “Baham already found the pretty wench by the river. And there are two more women over there.” The first bandit said, his leer growing nastier. Kija’s jaw clenched at the thought of these bandits hurting Naomi. Hak laughed. “Oi, Naomi can take care of herself just fine. That man is probably very dead now. It isn’t wise to play death games with an assassin.” Many of the men grew uncomfortable when he said the word ‘assassin’. Kija didn’t move as he stared down the leader.

He approached Kija and Naomi stealthily swung down and slit the farthest man’s throat. “Hey, it’s alright if I tear them apart, isn’t it?” Kija said, the bandit’s knife brushing his cheek. “Or you can hide if you want.” Hak said smiling his wicked smile that was so like Naomi’s. Another man disappeared as Naomi silently opened up his throat.

“Who would hide?” Kija said smiling, heat burning off him. The leader grabbed his right arm and got burned. Naomi couldn’t hear what happened, but she saw Kija’s smile and felt dark approval. A killer’s smile.

His arm bulged and split it’s coverings as it grew to its full glorious size. It frightened the bandits terribly. Then he attacked and Naomi admired his grace and brutal strength. The claws that could cut through anything. The men were beginning to realize their mistake.

Hak was smiling too. “You’re more heartless than you look.”

Kija had dealt off quite a few with his mighty claws,but he couldn’t match Naomi for her 

speed. She was downing men so fast it took the others a few seconds to realize there was a hunter in their midst. Hak joined the fight and Naomi still loved to watch him fight. He was beautiful in action.

Then Kija and Hak started to fight over who was protecting who. “Tsk, tsk, boys.” She said finally, her voice carrying over the sound of frightened men’s cries. “If you don’t hurry up, there will be none left for you.” She pulled her short sword out of one man’s back and he fell forward, revealing a smiling Naomi.

Hak chuckled and Kija stared. She was regal and she pulsed with power. This is her element, he realized and watched her kill half a dozen men in the blink of an eye. She sheathed the short swords, transitioned to her katanas and kept killing. The Dance of Death in all its brutal glory. She killed a man behind Hak and ducked as the Princess’ arrow soared by her and struck the hand of the man who had been about to try and stab her.

She smiled approvingly in Princess Yona’s direction.

Kija and Hak fought as well. Any of the three of them could have killed them all, but it was a novel thing for Naomi to be fighting with them. And these were such easy kills. 

When the last one was done in; the foolish man had been trying to take the Princess and Yoon as hostages; Naomi settled, but the Lady’s command still rang in her soul.

“Oi, you all stay here.” She commanded the foursome. They looked at her strangely, but she homed in on the retreating footsteps and took off after the last man who had fled. “What is she doing?” Kija asked. “Cleaning up.” Hak said back in approval. The Princess looked worriedly after Naomi and Yoon patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Princess. Naomi is strong.” Kija also stared after the beautiful killer. She had fought with such elegance, it put him to shame. “What is she?” He said in awe.

Hak’s smile was terrifying. “She is the Angel of Death.”

Naomi caught up to the man quickly though he had gotten far. He knew these woods well, but Naomi was like a hound on the scent of blood. She tackled him to the ground and pinned him in place with her swords. “Please! Mercy!” He cried. Her deep blue eyes glittered and her smile was sweet.

“I don’t know the meaning of that word.” She whispered, drawing a dagger from her boot. Swiftly, she stabbed him in the heart. _ No survivors _. “As the Lady commands.” She said as his blood wet the ground. The Lady was pleased.

Naomi offered up a prayer and then sheathed her blades. She sighed happily. What a good exercise. Then she looked and groaned. She had blood on her.

She made her way back to the river and washed the blood off herself and her weapons. She figured she could catch up to the other’s before they got too far. She needed to retrieve her bag from the tree first. The sun was setting, but she felt more alive than she had since she had fallen from that cliff. Once again, killing had centered her in ways that she couldn’t explain to anyone. In ways that now only the Princess could without bloodshed.

She may now be a bodyguard to a most precious person, but she would always be a killer. Nothing in the world would change that fact. She was made as the Lady wished her to be and in that she found peace in her tempestuous heart.

She finished getting the blood off of her and trotted to where she had left her bag in the trees. Many still bodies laid around the woods and Naomi felt a deep sense of satisfaction in it. She offered up another prayer and then began to track down her wayward charges. They had gotten a goodly distance away from the site which pleased the red haired woman. Very few would hunt for the killers of a pack of bandits, but it never hurt to be careful. She cleaned up their tracks as she went a laid a few false trails just in case before she finally saw the merry glow of a campfire and heard the voices of her wards.

“... I can’t sleep.” The Princess said to Hak who in turned grimaced. “I’m worried about her too, Princess, but Naomi knows what she is doing.” Yoon chewed on his thumbnail. “What if she’s been captured by Fire Tribe soldiers? What if that bandit got the better of her? What if she’s out there now bleeding to death while we sit here?” Hak snorted and Naomi smiled, not making a sound as she approached the camp.

“Any Fire Tribe patrol in no match for Naomi in combat, especially in the dark. The bandit was unarmed and running away from her, so I feel bad for him once she caught up. She’s like a particularly vicious hunting dog after a terrified rabbit.” Naomi poked her head around the tree Hak was propped up against. “That’s one way of calling me a scary bitch.”

Everyone in the camped jumped at the sound of her bright voice. “It’s sweet of you all to worry about me, but there is no need. I told Hak before we left that no one takes care of me, but me. If I’d been bleeding out there, I would have bandaged it no problem.” Her deep blue eyes sparkled as her group picked their collective jaws off the ground.

She saw Hak and could feel the pain he was in and her expression grew stern. She put her hands on her hips, an unconscious imitation of her mother. “Did you reopen your wounds, Raijuu?” It was a rhetorical question. She could see where he had bled into his bandages when he must have ripped open the wound. He had been fighting viciously to try and outdo Kija.

“Ah, you must be hungry, sprite. Have some dinner.” Hak said redirecting humorously. Naomi decided to play a trick of her own.

“I already had dinner, thank you though.” Something in her expression must have made Yoon confused. “What did you eat?” She put on her scariest face and let a mad glimmer creep into her eyes when she tilted her head and stared at the group. “The coward who ran away from the fight.” She smiled her best insane smile and Kija and Yoon looked horrified. Hak looked confused and the Princess seemed to be trying to hide her laughter. “M-Monster!” Kija whispered. “Well, that’s a fine thing coming from you!” She said, the craziness disappearing from her face.

“Naomi, don’t be mean.” The Princess said, laughing. Naomi chuckled and waved her hand. “So… you didn’t eat the bandit?” Kija said slowly, starting to realize that the red haired woman was joking. “As if I’d eat anything that smelled like that.” Naomi said after making a very unladylike sound. She tossed her bag expertly into the tree above Hak’s head. “Why, Naomi, I didn’t know you were a picky eater.” Hak said sarcastically. She ruffled Hak’s hair affectionately. “That just means if we starve, I’m not eating you first. Kija probably tastes the best anyways.” Everyone laughed, though Kija’s sounded distinctly nervous.

“Naomi, will you sing?” The Princess said, nestling next to Hak and Yoon by the tree. “Of course, Princess.” Naomi said warmly. She looked at Kija who hadn’t settled down yet. “Kija, aren’t you tired?” She asked, climbing into the tree above them. She settled on the lowest branch, two arm’s length above Hak. “Ah, no. I’m fine… thank you.” He said. Naomi wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to sleep because he was afraid she’d eat him or because he was unused to sleeping outdoors. Either way, she decided it wasn’t her job to make sure the White Dragon went to sleep.

“Alright then. You take first watch. Wake me up when you are tired.” She said kindly to him. He nodded and looked up. “Why are you sleeping up there?” She chuckled as she pulled her cloak from her bag and wrapped it around herself. “I don’t particularly care to sleep on the ground. I like being high up.” He smiled at her. He wasn’t sure how she was going to sleep on a branch barely wider than she was but it would be most amusing to watch her fall out of a tree, he thought.

Then she began to sing a lilting tune in a strange language that Kija had never heard before. It was bittersweet, the way she sang it. Kija thought perhaps he could hear the longing and the sorrow in her voice, though the song was sweet and loving.

She really is a foreigner, he thought. The song wove through the night, the wind in the trees and the crickets forming a natural harmony to Naomi’s heartbreakingly lovely voice. Too soon it was over and the wind and the crickets were all that were left to continue the lullaby.

Kija poked the fire. “That was beautiful.” he quietly. Naomi didn’t answer for a while and Kija assumed she had fallen asleep.

Then her voice came from the tree. “Thank you… my mother taught it to me when I was very young,” she murmured. Then she rolled over and was silent for the rest of the night.

Maybe it was just his imagination… but Kija could’ve sworn he could hear the tears in her voice that her eyes refused to shed when she spoke of her mother. 

* * *

Morning came, cold and clear, for the travelers. Naomi stretched and smiled at the rising sun. Her wounds barely hurt anymore and were beginning to heal completely. Naomi scouted the perimeter and dealt off the few bandits who had followed her false trails.

By the time she returned, everyone was awake and walking. Yoon had narrowed down where the Blue Dragon could be to six different places across the Fire Tribe’s Lands. Naomi was worried about being near the Fire Tribe, but she told herself that she would handle any threats they came across before they ever got near her Princess.

It was a long walk and Naomi amused herself with her ranging and caught food for their dinner, which she tied to her packs. She played games with herself and was content with watching her precious group meander on their way.

Kija could only give vague directions as to where the Blue Dragon was. Seiryuu seemed to be harder to find than Hakuryuu had been. The Blue Dragon village had migrated from its original place in the Earth Kingdom.

There was a lot of walking and it all turned out to be fruitless. None of the places Yoon guessed he would be, were actually where he was. All in all, it was very frustrating for the group. Naomi didn’t mind. As long as they were safe and generally headed in the right direction, she wasn’t too concerned. Besides, she enjoyed being on the road. She didn’t like the thought of finding another dragon crazy village and having to think of another excuse to avoid the festival they would throw in Princess Yona’s honor. Daunting prospect.

After the last place struck out, everyone was exhausted and Naomi descended from the trees.

She ignored the male squabbles and focused on the Princess who was shaking slightly and worn to the bone. “Yoon.” Naomi called gently. Kija looked over as the red haired assassin helped Princess Yona to sit down. The setting sun reflected off their hair and the men were momentarily dazzled by the unreal beauty the two ladies possessed. “She’s been walking all day.” Naomi murmured, stroking the Princess’ shorn locks gently. Yoon brought a skin over to the two women. “Drink this.” Naomi drank first, a precaution she took with all the supplies Yoon bought or bartered for.

After all, she was the most likely to survive if there was any poison amongst their wares. “Loquat juice. Good choice.” She said smiling and handing the skin to Yona. “It’s delicious!” She cried happily. “It eases fatigue and helps with muscle cramps.” Yoon said smiling, feeling warm at Naomi’s smile of approval.

Naomi felt, more the saw, Kija wilting. She chanced a glance and found his face creased with sorrow. That expression stayed in Naomi’s mind as they set up camp. She could understand frustration since they hadn’t found the Blue Dragon’s village but sorrow? Tomorrow, they would all get up and keep looking. And if they didn’t find them tomorrow, then the next day. Such was the nature of such ventures. You kept going until you found what you are looking for.

She prayed to her Lady, but the Lady of Blessed Night was silent on the matter, meaning Naomi was on her own. Ah, normal human interaction with someone she couldn’t seduce and murder.

Where Kija was concerned, Naomi was at a loss of what to do. He needed sleep and something else that Naomi was uncertain of. Comfort? She wasn’t great at that. Reassurance? What could she say? Thoughts crowded her mind, beating her up till she sighed with exasperation.

She could hear him shivering against the tree. What a poor sweet boy, she thought. He had left the only home he’d ever known to follow Yona on her quest to save herself and her friend from King Soo-won.

Though she no longer flinched when she thought of her lovely King, she still felt an ache for him. His murderous intent, even though she was now a target for him, made him exponentially more attractive and she missed him. She missed her beautiful King and it made her angry that she did. Soo-won wanted to kill Hak and Yona, part of her precious little group. She should hate him.

She gave up on that line of thought. Too many times had she chased that prey and it left her hurting and sad.

Kija shivered again and a choking noise came from his throat.

Was he crying?

Naomi descended from her tree silently.

“You should get some sleep, Lord Hakuryuu. Traveling is hard on the body.” She said stiltedly. He didn’t move, but she could see his hands clenched tightly to his upper arms and his head was bowed.

Carefully, she reached down and laid a hand on his head. His hair was silk beneath her palm. “Come Kija, you must rest. It has been a long day and your body needs to recover.” When he didn’t move, Naomi huffed and dragged her cloak down from the tree.

Hak mumbled something in his sleep as the red haired woman laid her cloak down next to him. “Come, lovely boy. I will frighten away the bugs and the fears. We need you, Kija. She needs you. I won’t let you falter because you lack sleep.” She said oh so gently to the white robed young man whose despair pressed on her chest painfully.

Kija allowed himself to be led to the cloak, but he couldn’t believe he could sleep. His sorrows gnawed on him painfully. Was he failing his Master already?

He laid down and Naomi settled down right next to him. He could feel the heat radiating off her, comforting as a campfire. Hesitantly, she began running her slim fingers through his exquisite hair. The motion was so soothing Kija found himself relaxing bit by bit. A low hum came from her throat and she curled tighter against his back. Protecting him. He’d meant to thank her, but oblivion claimed him quickly.

He woke up later when he felt Naomi’s warmth leave his back. A rhythmic thwacking caught his attention.

There in the moonlight, stood Princess Yona, bow drawn.

Her face bore such a look of fierce concentration as she loosed arrow after arrow into the trunk of a tree. Her whole body shook with weariness, but she was single mindedly focused on her practice she didn’t notice her wide awake companions watching her from the darkness. Only Yoon continued to sleep.

“Princess-” Kija called, but was stopped when Hak covered his mouth with a broad hand. “Shhh.” The large warrior said. Across the clearing from them, Kija saw Naomi, blending in with the foliage around her with her odd cloak.

The young dragon caught her eyes and she smiled sweetly and put a single finger to her lips. Kija and Hak conversed quietly as Naomi observed her Princess’ skill. She had grown better and better with each shot. Naomi found it thrilling. Before her shooting practice, she had performed her Rigmar with great precision.

Naomi ruefully wished she had been as adept a pupil as the Princess. Her Master had drilled her mercilessly to attain perfection and it still took her much time to do so. But the results are what matters, she thought.

She prayed to the Lady of Blessed Night that they would all live to see the Princess attain perfection.

_ My Lady, You who are terrible in Your mercy and radiant in Your punishment, unworthy as I am to ask You of anything, I beg You. Please, let her grow strong and wise and please, let me be there to see it. _

The Lady caressed Naomi’s soul, Her touch like fire and ice. As gentle a falling petal and as sharp as Naomi’s blades. It gave the red haired woman no reassurance, but it was comforting nonetheless.

It wasn’t till Hak knelt down in front of her did Naomi realize she had been kneeling at prayer till morning.

“Sprite, you and your Gods are very strange,” he said, a quizzical look on his handsome face. She laughed in spite of herself and stood fluidly for someone who had been on her knees for hours. “Apologies. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed.” Her accent was thick and charming. Hak chuckled, “Not a problem. I just came to tell you that we are going. Yoon figured it out.”

Naomi’s one-of-a-kind eyes leapt with excitement. “Seiryuu?” She said.

Hak smiled, his eyes shining with adoration and brotherly affection. “We’ve got him now, sprite. Let’s get moving.”

Naomi’s smile was dazzling to the others as they set out.

She was curious.

_ Seiryuu. _


	10. Chapter Ten

“What a dismal place to live…” Naomi murmured to herself, careful not to project her words to the group.

Her folk were mountain people, but their villages were more like Hakuryuu’s than this. Although, she had visited clans who had made their homes in villages carved into the mountain, they had been very lively, with fires burning all night and bright decorations to break up the monotonous stone.

This place felt dead to her and it made her shiver.

“Yes. The Blue Dragon is here,” she heard Kija say quietly.

It wasn’t cold outside, but Naomi wrapped herself in her cloak, concealing her face, figure and weapons from prying eyes while hers shifted constantly, observing everything around her.

She didn’t want to go in there. She hated being underground. The threat of being trapped made her heart pound. She dared not voice her fears, lest she infect the rest of them.

They had to find the Blue Dragon. He was in there, so she knew she had to go in. She was the Master of the Dance and nothing could trap her if she remained vigilant.

She clutched her cloak to hide her trembling hands and followed the others inside, murmuring prayers to soothe her nerves. The Lady was with her. She would be fine.

Upon entering, Naomi noticed how cold and damp it was. They entered a large open carved cavern. In the center of it were two burning fire and tattered canvas’ on wooden poles. Naomi could see other alcoves with their own fires burning inside, covered with drapes.

So, there were inhabitants after all.

Suddenly, one of the curtains was pulled back to reveal a man wearing a fearsome mask. It startled Naomi so much that she had drawn her short swords from her lower back without thinking. “Whoa, easy Naomi, easy.” Hak rumbled as other figures left their alcoves and surrounded them. They were all silent and their masked eyes unblinking.

Naomi gripped her bone hilts and drew strength from the contact. Her Master was with her. He had never shown fear and neither would she. She relaxed her stance just a bit and calmly surveyed the mass encircling them.

A slow, measured stride punctuated with the tap of a cane made Naomi turn.

An old man flanked by two younger men, all unmasked came forward. Their faces were dull and lifeless. “Do we have guests?” The old man whispered, his voice like dry leaves blowing across a dead forest.

Naomi tensed up, but didn’t move. Hak knew that if any villagers made a wrong move, she would go from motionless to a whirlwind of steel and flesh. He prayed she held her peace till they got what they came for.

“Bring the Blue Dragon here!” Kija called in a commanding voice. Yoon said that it was too direct, but Naomi was glad he had gotten straight to the point. These people were so different from Hakuryuu Village.

“Blue Dragon?” The old man said, looking at other unmasked men with sly eyes that made Naomi want to gouge them out. “No one by that name lives here.”

Naomi ground her teeth. The whole situation made her itch to open up a few throats. Maybe then they would stop lying.

“It is not a name. He is a man who possesses a dragon’s blood.” Kija was getting annoyed. ‘There is no need to hide him. Tell him this person is waiting for him.” The White Dragon motioned to the Princess who looked entirely too innocent. The old man’s eyes slid to Yona and Naomi twitched. Hak laid a heavy hand on her shoulder to remind her not to gut their host.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” The old man said flatly. “Perhaps you came to the wrong place. This is a small simple settlement. We don’t want a lot of commotion.”

_ Lady of Blessed Night, hear the prayer of your daughter, give me patience for Lady, if you give me strength, I will kill this man in front of his village like the lying pig he is. _

“I’m sorry. We were traveling in search of someone, but it seems he isn’t here.” The men looked at the Princess frustrated. All of them knew that the old man was lying, but Naomi could hear beneath the Princess’ words and it made her smile. “But we’re exhausted from our long journey, and some of us are injured.” Hak opened his robe slightly to reveal his bandaged torso.

Together, the Princess and the General requested to stay for a night.

A whole night in this place? The idea made Naomi shudder, but she would do her duty. She’d guard Yona like a mother hawk with one fledgling.

After an uncomfortable silence, the villagers agreed to shelter the group.

They were led to an alcove for themselves while the elder explained that they wore their masks to hide the faces of the unmarried.

And people thought her culture was strange.

“We will not be held responsible for anything that happens to you.” Was the old man’s last warning. _ Old man, I will remove your tongue if you speak to my Princess that way again. _ Naomi promised silently, only stowing her blades once they were inside their curtain covered alcove.

The stone surroundings seemed to press in on her, blocking much of her sense of the world. The dry musty odor seemed stale and the air was cold. Why would anyone want to live underground?

And where was the Blue Dragon in this stone maze?

* * *

“Another dead end,” Naomi whispered as Yoon slammed his hand into the wall. The sound echoed up and down the halls in a maddening way. The red haired assassin had sensitive hearing and the reverberations seemed to vibrate in her head, making her feel deaf. Scent was out of the question: everything smelled like damp stone and stale air. The dimness of the caves didn’t bother Naomi’s eyesight but with the unending stone, there was nothing discernible around her.

Naomi forced herself to be calm.

Hak looked at her strangely. “Sprite, you got this weird look on your face.”

She scowled. “I do not,” Hak nodded and Naomi changed to a pout, “Don’t you know it’s not polite to point out a lady’s flaws?” She said in a haughty tone. The smile that accompanied it softened the words.

“Oh Naomi, I know you’re no lady.” He said in a laughing tone.

_ You’re no lady. _

The words tightened in Naomi’s abdomen and her face went dangerously blank. Hak watched her eyes get very sleepy and he wondered if he had just offended her. He hadn’t meant to. She smiled an icy smile, “No. I suppose I’m not.”

She felt tremors beneath her feet of people moving and she needed to get away before she hurt someone.”There are four people tracking us. I’m going to find out why,” she murmured just loud enough for Hak and Kija to hear. “Keep her safe.”

She turned and strode down the hall, fleeing those she loved so they wouldn’t see the child behind the beautiful face.

_ The past is the past, little dragon, don’t let it consume you. Let it go. _

_ But you are my past and I don’t want to let you go. If I have to take the Warlord’s to keep you, then I accept. Ik-soo said I would suffer. For you, for them, I will happily. Just don’t let them see. Don’t let them see my past in my eyes. Don’t let them weep for me. _

She needed to kill something. Anything. She needed to remind herself that she was strong.

Her footsteps were almost silent, but she could hear the scuffing of her boots against stone as she walked, the echo of her harsh breathing.

_ You’re no lady. Just a little girl who doesn’t know her place yet. But you will… oh you will… _

“I am the Bloody Lover. I am the Angel of Death. Master of the Dance of Death. I fear no ghost nor memory, you bastards. One day I’ll come for you.” She whispered into the maze. She caressed the bone hilts of her swords. Her and her Master had sworn, yes one day, they would take revenge for their homeland. No matter what, she would keep that promise. If only for the pleasure of ripping the Warlords’ tongues out through their throats.

She hunted through the halls for the four men who had been watching them, feeling the hunt rising in her veins, but the Lady disapproved. She did not want these men’s lives. _ So what do you command, Lady? _

Naomi felt more than heard the tinkle of bells in her soul.

How odd.

The urge to kill abated and she slowed her hunt as she considered the bells. She’d always liked bells. Her mother had worn beautiful anklets of silver bells when she danced and ribbons in her silver streaked red brown hair.

Her sister’s laugh had sounded like that. A laugh that brought lightness to the world and joy to the heart. Her baby sister had been utter perfection, even as a child. Would that Naomi could have watched her grow up.

A laugh caught her attention. She turned on a dime and hid as best she could.

Tiny steps padded down the hallway and Naomi peeked a glance and saw a tiny human. No more than a toddler, chasing a little blue ball, clapping as he threw it. He was a homely tow-headed little boy, but he was so happy with that ball.

But where was his mother?

She glanced around before she walked up to him and crouched down.

“Hello there,” she said picking the ball up and rolling it to him. He looked at her like she was the grandest thing ever and she smiled in return. She’d always had a soft spot for children. “Where’s your mum? It’s no good for you to be wandering around by your lonesome.” He didn’t understand a word, but he grinned at her with his small baby teeth. What a charmer.

“Alrighty, come here.” She said, grabbing the ball and swinging the babe up into her arms and settling him on her hip. He cheered and talked to her in his gibberish language as she began to walk back the way he came.

Her gait swayed with the new weight on her hip, but it was a soothing motion and he ended up laying his head on her shoulder, one fat baby hand twined in her hair and his thumb in his mouth.

It was a novel experience. No one had let her hold a baby since her sister had been born when Naomi had been five. What woman in her right mind let a well known killer hold her precious son? So Naomi enjoyed every moment.

His skin was so smooth and warm, his blond hair soft and downy.

“Little man, you must have walked quite a ways chasing this ball. Hello? Is someone missing their son? Hello?” She called quietly, not wanting to disturb him. He felt like peace. His world was so small and unworried.

She hoped it always was. She hummed a small hymnal, a cradle song, that invoked the guardian spirits of the mountains. All mothers sang it to their children to protect the little life that was so utterly important.

The little boy liked it and nuzzled her neck in his sleep.

She had hoped one day that she would have a baby to hold and love after she and her Master had taken back Belarusia and settled down. But that dream was gone and so Naomi contented herself to cuddle the little boy in her arms and bless him as well as she could. Like she had cuddle Tae-yeon in Fuuga and loved him as her own.

She had such a soft spot.

“Rin?! Rin?! Where are you?!” A frantic woman yelled down the hall. She was crying and her fear washed over Naomi like a cold wave.

“He is here. He is safe.” She called and walked a bit faster towards where the woman called. The little boy, Rin, stirred at the sound of his mother’s voice.

She came out of the dim tunnel to an open area where fires burned and a very young woman, almost a girl, wept with her eyes wide searching for her son.

“Rin?” She said and Naomi came into view. “He is fine. Just sleeping,” Naomi whispered as the young woman ran to her, arm outstretched. Ever so carefully, she transferred the sleeping boy to his mother who continued to cry silently. “Thank you so much. No one would help me and he was just gone.” Naomi really looked at the young mother. She couldn’t have been older than sixteen with fly away brown hair and deep brown eyes.

“Why would no one help you?” Naomi asked, slightly shocked that the disappearance of a child wouldn’t cause more of a stir. In her home village, every alarm would have been sounded till the babe was found.

Shame colored the girl’s cheeks. “He is a bastard. He has no father. Only me.”

Rage roiled Naomi’s blood. How could they be so calloused? To cast out a mother and child like that for such a stupid reason was blasphemous. She ran a careful hand over the boy’s head one last time. “He is safe now. He is loved. And he will be blessed. One day, he will rise to greatness.” Naomi whispered, pressing kisses to his pudgy baby hands.

The young woman smiled and thanked her, sniffling and straightening. Naomi saw great strength in her, the kind that could humble the proudest stallion. “You are one of the guests?” Naomi nodded carefully.

Shifting Rin higher on her hip, the young woman looked around and leaned close. “You must be careful here, my lady. Many of the villagers are frightened of you and your companions. They may try and stop you from finding him.”

“Him?” Naomi said. The young mother nodded, “Seiryuu.”

I knew they were lying, she thought to herself. “The villagers say that he is cursed. They shun him for it, but he was always kind to me and mine. If you can, take him from this place. To a place where no one will fear him or shun him.”

Naomi noticed how she clung to her own son while speaking. She wasn’t just speaking of the Blue Dragon. She was speaking of her son. Naomi hesitated only a moment before speaking.

“Listen well, sweet girl. If the time ever comes that you wish to leave this place, go North. Follow the mountain ranges for five days then turn west for three. You will find a place called Belarusia and at the first village you find, ask directions to Akamine Orchard. They will take you and your son in. They’ve never turned away someone in need.” She smiled a beautiful sad smile. “No one will shun you or hurt you and your son will grow up strong and free.”

The girl’s eyes were wide but Naomi sensed her determination and she fervently hoped that the young woman could make it to Belarusia. That kind of strength was rare and beautiful and Naomi’s people would love her for it.

Naomi felt the fierce desire to go with the girl and see her home again, but the Lady reminded her of her quest.

“May all the Gods bless you, lady. Thank you. For his sake.”

Naomi smiled and pressed a kiss to the young woman’s brow, wrapping what blessings she could around the woman and child. The Lady obliged Her chosen in this and was pleased to guide this new blood to Her People. “For your sake too, sweet girl. Someone will love you in that place. May you have all the joy in life that can be had and may your son grow to be as strong and loving as his mother.”

As Orella smiled and turned to go, she cast over her shoulder a quiet murmur, “You will be a fine mother one day, lady.”

The words warmed Naomi’s heart, but when she turned to thank the young mother, Orella was gone.

Hopefully, to Belarusia.

Naomi wandered down another tunnel, her thoughts once again calm. Meeting Rin and Orella had soothed the beast within her that had hunted for blood. Their innocence and strength had humbled her. As had their love.

Love. That was her greatest blessing, given to her through Ik-soo, by her most beloved Lady. She had only needed to be reminded of it to feel whole again. Nothing was more beautiful than that. The world was ugly and sometimes very evil, but Love was the gift the Gods gave in return.

Why did love sound so much like bells?

“I know what you are.” A harsh voice said from the darkness.

Startling, Naomi pulled a dagger from her thigh and struck out. Her hand hit stone with an audible crack.

Only training kept her from dropping her weapon.

“Demon.” That voice growled again from the shadows. It took a moment for the red haired assassin to control the pain in her hand and minimize it before she pinpointed the direction the voice came from.

She quickly sheathed the dagger and pulled a short sword from her lower back, tucking her injured hand against her stomach.

A narrow passage sliced into the dark, nearly impossible to see through but Naomi could feel a man’s quick footsteps moving away from her down the passage.

_ “Hail Lady, full of grace, hearken to thy daughter’s call… let me enter the darkness and feel no fear, for You walk alongside me, oh Lady of Blessed Night, Queen of the Shadows. Guide me through the abyss.” _Naomi chanted, going into the passage, her lilting language bouncing eerily off the stone. The pain in her hand became an annoyance, but nothing she couldn’t ignore. It would heal.

The day she had received the blessing for healing, her Master had practically caved in her chest when he struck her and she hadn’t blocked properly. Her ribs had cracked and her sternum shattered.

He had spent hours praying over her as the blessing took control and healed her, after he had carefully reset her bones. It had been a long evening, but in the end she came out whole and the blessing heavy upon her.

It never deadened the pain completely though and healing took precious time. This man was taunting her and had malicious intent. She could feel it bounce to her through the stone and she set after him full of righteous anger. Who was he to call her a demon? He hadn’t seen a demon yet. She would show him and no one would ever find his body in this dark place.

She followed him around turns, deeper into the maze, growing closer with every step. By the time she realized he had led her on a wild goose chase, Naomi was quite turned about.

Judging by the dust that tickled her nose and the cobwebs that brushed her face, these passages were long unused and she tried to count the turns she made and the steps between them.

As she went around one more corner, the passage widened some and the footsteps stopped.

She slipped through the darkness, relying on her other senses to guide her. She separated the scent of stone and dust from that of sweat and man. She listened for the tell tale signs of heavy breathing. He couldn’t hide for long. She’d find him and then he’d answer a few questions for her and she would break his hand in return for her own.

She heard the scuff of sandals, just before he struck at her from behind. She turned deftly as the blade whistled past her shoulder and in one fluid motion she struck him in the belly with enough force to raise him off the ground.

His cry echoed around her and disoriented her for a moment. Enough time for him to rise again and rush her. “Demon! I’ve killed your kind before! I’ve protected this village from others like you! You shall not have us! I’ll kill you, then the other red haired witch with you! I’ll kill you all!” He yelled and the noise made Naomi’s head vibrate.

She backed up to give herself more room to maneuver and sheathed her blade. It would do no good for her to blindly wave a sword around in a stone hall. She could injure herself or worse, hurt her blade. She was down a hand, but there was nothing wrong with her legs.

His words reached her mind and her soul and she felt the Lady’s fury. The Goddess reached through her chosen and placed the command.

_ Kill him. _

“As the Lady commands.” She whispered in her native tongue. And in the Koukan tongue she told the villager, “You have spilled the blood of the Great One upon these stones…” She found his scent in the dark.

“You are forfeit.”

She struck a mighty kick which was met with stiff resistance and Naomi shattered his shoulder immediately. He let loose another strangled cry of pain.

“They came from the mountains to the North! Demons, disguised as Angels! They came preaching of Gods that seek to trap souls in darkness! So I killed them! All of them, even the children!” Shock hit Naomi like a waterfall. Belarusians only left the motherland for one reason: fleeing from the persecution of the Warlords. They had fled and were murdered by this madman.

Her shock stumbled her and the man hurled himself at her, knocking them both into the wall behind her. There was a crack, not in her body, but in the stone behind her.

He pulled back and then slammed into her again with his good shoulder, growling like a wild animal.

“Bastard. You can’t have me, and you especially can’t have her.” She said, landing a hard punch to his jaw and a swift stomp to his knee.

There was a rumbling in the stone, but the Lady’s fury focused her on her command. She had to kill this monster who had killed her innocent people, who had threatened her Princess.

He fell to his knees and Naomi grabbed the arm that connected to the unbroken shoulder and stepped over it. With a quick twist of her body, she broke it in half. His strangled cry of pain was like the sweetest music.

She stomped on his hand, crushing the bones beneath her heel.

She broke his knees.

And his shins.

His ankles and his feet.

Only when he begged for her mercy did she finally open his throat up and spilled his blood on the stones. She anointed herself in it and prayed in a breathless voice, beseeching her Lady to guide the souls of her children back to the Great One, even so far from their home.

The blood dried on her face and finally she let the pain take her. She stumbled back into the wall and took a deep shuddering breath. She almost didn’t hear the beginning of the quake.

She rested her hand on the stone and felt where she and her attacker had struck a focal point. The tunnels were crumbling.

“You’ve got to be joking…” She whispered in shock before she began to run.

Suddenly, her whole world was shaking. Her footing became treacherous and bits of the ceiling were falling in.

Oh no, oh no, oh no.

She stumbled as a large slab fell and grazed her head, leaving a sizable bump behind. She tried to ignore it and keep running, but as the ceiling crumbled, she was forced up against the wall, her arms over her head, trying to keep from getting hit again. Already, she felt dizzy and sick. Head wounds were always nasty, her Master had told her.

She slid down, trying to make herself a smaller target. The very Earth itself had become her attacker and this was an opponent she couldn’t fight.

Helpless, she crouched as the world fell in around her.

* * *

Naomi awoke to darkness.

Dirt had gather on top of her and she coughed and shook it off as much as she could. Her whole body felt bruised, but the worst was her head, her hand and her left leg.

She hissed as she tried to move which made her dizzy.

She felt the blood on her leg and sensed the injury. Not a clean break but a splintering crack that ran the length of her shin. She held her hand up to her face to see the blood, but there was nothing. All the light had been snuffed out. She could not see an inch from her face.

_ I’ve got to get back. I’ve been gone too long. Where are Hak and Yoon and Kija? Where is Princess Yona? _

She used the wall for support and stood, balancing on her right leg.

Reaching out, Naomi found the path blocked by fallen stone. No exit left.

She breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm her racing pulse. There had to be a way out. She just had to find it.

First, she checked to make sure all of her weapons had made it through. All had, but one missing plain dagger from her boot. All of her precious bone-handled blades were safe.

It was her only relief.

With one hand on the wall and the other pressed to her stomach, Naomi began a very slow, painful trek through the mazes, cursing herself the whole way. How dare she allow herself to be distracted from her duty. She should have been with the Princess. She should never have left her people alone. How stupid could she be, leaving on her own like that?

_ If you hadn’t, Rin may not have been found. Orella would have lost her son and they never would have known that they could flee to Belarusia. _

“Shut up.” She muttered to her Master’s voice inside her head. Grateful as she was to have found the mother and child, her duty was to Princess Yona.

Please, let her be alright, she prayed fervently.

Despair set in, the longer she wandered.

How could she fail now?

“Hak! Kija! Yoon! Princess! Anyone! Can anyone hear me?” She called into the oppressive darkness. “I’m hurt! Can anyone hear me? Hak! Where are you?”

There was no answer, but her own voice echoing back to her. 

She didn’t know how much time had passed since the quake her fight had caused. She had no way of measuring how far she had gone or whether she was going up or down in the maze. Her injuries pulsed painfully, though her hand had begun to heal itself ever so slowly. She’d have to work it hard to build its dexterity back up.

She called and called, her voice becoming more slurred every time. If she could’ve seen, she was sure her vision would have been wonky, but all there was, was darkness. Not the kind she enjoyed. Not the darkness she’d come to love from her Lady who lit the darkness with the stars from her cloak. Naomi was deep within the Earth. Like a tomb.

No, she couldn’t think that way. She had to keep going. She had to find her Princess. Had to make sure Yona was okay.

That kept her going for another hundred feet before she leaned on her left leg by accident and blacked out from the sudden pain.

She awoke again to darkness.

It made her shiver.

“Hello? Anyone? Please… help,” she called. It was pitiful and in any other situation, Naomi would have abhorred her behavior. But she was alone, she was in pain and although she’d never admit it, she was frightened. She didn’t want to die down there in the terrible darkness. She didn’t want this to be her tomb.

_ You are not alone, little dragon. I am here. _

She touched the bone hilt of one of her daggers and tried to smile. No, not quite alone.

Yet, her Master could not save her now.

“Hak… Kija… Yoon… Princess… Princess, are you alright? Can you hear me? Please be safe. I promise, I’ll never leave you again. Not in the dark like this. Please, answer me.” Her leg screamed as she shifted in place and it worked its way out of her mouth for a brief moment.

“Don’t leave me down here.” She said, curling into her dirty cloak.

There were cuts on her hands from following the walls and they bled slowly and Naomi could taste it in the air.

Don’t leave me in the dark. Let me walk by your side in the light, Princess Yona. Let me see you grow, please.

“Is there anyone left? Please.. I need your help,” she called into the silence.

There was no answer.

Maybe she was the only one who survived? The thought broke her. She didn’t want to

live if her friends were gone. As her will to live waned, so did her blessings. One by one they seemed to fade from her body and soul. The Lady could not help her if she gave up. Her last blessing pulsed feebly. Love. the last and greatest blessing.

It sounded like bells.

How lovely.

A warm, gentle hand touched her own and she could’ve sworn it was a ghost. She could see nothing.

But she could smell them. She could hear their deep, even breathing; could feel the warmth of their skin in the damp cold.

“Hello?” She murmured. The hand encircled her good one and tried to pull her up. “I’m sorry, but I can’t walk. I’m hurt. Can you help me?” She asked, her words sounding very foggy.

Those warm hands touched her face, cupping her cheeks as if she were made of glass. Gentle fingers probed the bump on her skull, then retracted slowly. The fingertips seemed to linger on her skin.

Oh so carefully, incredibly strong arms went around her and lifted her up as if she were, but a feather. Naomi’s face pressed against soft cloth and beneath it, she could hear a strong, steady heartbeat. Others survived. She wasn’t alone.

Her blessings came back slowly and her head began to hurt less.

She immediately thought of her Princess.

“Is she okay? Is Princess Yona alright?” He didn’t answer, but something in him relaxed when she asked. She took it as a good sign.

As he walked, the bells chimed with his swaying gate. Such a happy sound.

He kept walking for a while and Naomi wondered how he could’ve known she had been there. She realized that he had walked all this way to find her.

The darkness began to recede.

They turned another corner and flickering torchlight made Naomi flinch and turn away. She breathed and turned to look. Being out of the darkness eased her fear. She wasn’t trapped any longer. She was safe for the moment in those strong arms that held her so lightly.

When she looked up she was surprised to see the mask across half his face and the white mane that cascaded over his shoulders down his back. She could see the blue hair on his head and his sensual mouth and his perfect chin.

She smiled and leaned back against him.

“Thank you, Seiryuu.” Only his bells answered, but when Naomi looked up, she saw the hint of a sweet smile.

She heard voices ahead and when she turned her head to look she saw the villagers.

And Hak.

And Kija.

And Yoon.

But her eyes went straight to the little red-haired Princess.

“They made it. They’re okay.” She whispered, turning her face into the Blue Dragon’s soft robes to hide her tears. He shifted, almost imperceptibly, to help her hide her face and she was speechless with gratitude. When they reached the rest of them, all eyes turned to the Blue Dragon and the beautiful exhausted looking woman he held closely.

“Naomi!” Yona cried, flinging herself at the two who had stepped into the light.

“She’s alive,” Hak said, sagging with relief. Yoon dashed way his tears and arched up to her, a determined fire in his eyes with the other men right behind him.

“Heyya,” Naomi whispered weakly. Her friends fussed over her, wondering why she wasn't standing on her own two feet. She was fine, wasn't she?

“She’s hurt,” Seiryuu said quietly. Naomi looked at him shocked and relished in the sound of his voice. It was a high baritone, light and deep.

He didn’t set her down, but carried her all the way out into the sunshine.

Together, they stepped into the light with the sound of bright bells marking their freedom from the darkness.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Naomi was very pleased to leave the Seiryuu Village behind, even more than Hakuryuu Village. Although this time she couldn’t just quietly slip away like she wanted to. She had to be carried away in Kija’s arms like a child and she resented it greatly.

“Put me down. I’m fine, I can walk.” She growled, squirming. It made her dizzy, but how could she be respected if they thought one little bump on the head could bring her down.

“Naomi, I swear, if you try to walk now I will have Hak knock you unconscious!” Yoon said, his flush rising with his temper. “In a few short weeks, you have been poisoned, broken to pieces, sliced up, shot full of arrows, sedated, and pushed to exhaustion. Now you have a cracked tibia, a broken hand and probably a concussion from the tunnel collapse. You were almost buried alive! This time, you are going to wait till you are fully recovered before you do anything. You. Will. Be. Patient.” He said stern-faced, emphasizing his words forcefully.

Naomi grumbled some uncomplimentary things in her native tongue about stubborn young men. Kija chuckled, not understanding the words, but the tone was quite clear. “No respect for the elderly, huh?” Naomi raised an eyebrow at the White Dragon, “Elderly, eh? I’ll show you elderly once you put me down.” Kija only chuckled and maintained his grip on the hurt young woman. “I don’t like being treated like an invalid. If I become baggage, then I need to be left behind,” she uttered grouchily. Hak rounded on her then with a blistering reprimand hot on his tongue. Naomi stopped him dead by raising one pale calloused hand.

“Hak, when I first asked to join you, you told me not to expect anyone to take care of me. I will not allow myself to become a liability.” Blue eyes met blue eyes in a contest of wills. Hak lost.

“No one gets left behind.” He growled at her and she bared her teeth in what might have been a smile if it hadn’t looked so wolfish.

She was ashamed. So ashamed of herself.

How could she allow herself to be injured like this? How? Was it not shameful enough that she had gotten poisoned by the Fire Tribe soldiers and fallen over a cliff? Now she had to be carried away from a village because she had been so foolish as to get hurt.

Self-loathing burned a hole in her gut and her palms began to bleed where her nails had bit into her skin from clenching her hands so tightly.

She had to be better. She had to be stronger and untouchable.

She had to be the Bloody Lover again.

Naomi came to the realization as she lay alone beneath the tree the group had stopped at. The others had gone off and Naomi had not found the courage to go with them. Red light from the setting sun filtered through the trees, dappling shadows over the sharp beautiful lines of her face. And she realized that while she had done well in embracing her new role in life, she had forgotten something she should never forget.

She was the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, Master of the Dance. She was a Priestess of the Lady of Blessed Night and while her new life was comfortable and happy and she had such precious people in her life now, she had lost her edge.

When a blade becomes dull, a swordsmistress sharpens it, she thought. She had to find a balance between the old Naomi and the new. Yet, they were so different from each other. Where was the balance between the Dark and the Light?

_ Trust me. _

Startled, Naomi glanced up and around, but there was no one but the unconscious White Dragon.

_ Trust me. _

Hadn’t she uttered those words before? To her precious King when he first came to her, then to Hak on the battlefield. And they had.

Now, her Lady whispered it in her soul. The Dark Lady knew Her daughter well. Trust me, She commanded.

“As the Lady commands. Yet, I beg you, Goddess of my heart and soul... don’t let me burden those I’m meant to care for. Make me strong so that I may protect them. Make me strong and swift to do Your will.” Naomi prayed beneath the shade of the tree.

Some of the pain that had spread through her faded as her Goddess’ love filled her body and soul. It was the embrace of a mother to a child who had been hurt and needed comfort. It was like a memory of her mother’s soft arms go around her after falling out of a tree as a child. Oh, how Naomi ached sometimes for the feeling of her mother’s arms around her, just to hear her whisper in Belarusian all the comforting words of her early childhood.

Gods, she missed her family.

And she prayed that they would never know that she had survived the Warlords. The knowledge would crush her Father’s heart._ Better to think I died _ , the numb part of her mind presented to the rest of it, _ better to think I had died than been subjected to the Empire’s cruelties _.

Of all the lands, none knew cruelty like Belarusia. The Warlords had turned the breaking of body and spirit into an art. And perfected it.

She wanted Princess Yona. Needed her presence to help her remember why she hadn’t gone with Orella and her son.

Slowly, she sat up, wincing at the aggravated pain in her head. Though her hand was feeling better after the Goddess’ gentle ministrations.

Well, people had always said that the Master gets special consideration from the Lady herself. What no one replied was that the Lady used her chosen hard and the special consideration was to make sure the Master was up to manifest Her will.

She found her bag next to her and quietly blessed Hak for his thoughtfulness. A good assassin never carried more than necessary and should be able to abandon such things without a thought. But within her bag lay her Master’s Shakuhachi and its loss would have stung her. Now within the hardwood box, two tiny bells accompanied the well loved instrument.

She’d seen them fall from the Blue Dragon’s horned mask and had asked Yoon very quietly to retrieve them for her. The sound was a comforting music. It sounded like salvation and safety… love.

So she kept them- hidden away with her other treasure.

When she found her jar of ointment, she began to spread them on her wounds and her scars. She hated seeing the pain in Princess Yona’s eyes whenever the young girl looked at Naomi’s new scars.

Once that was done, she took out a needle and the thick black thread she bought special, she began ever so carefully stitching the holes in her pants back up.

She cleaned and cared for her things till night fell and she didn’t want to strain her eyes too much.

Hak came for her soon after she packed away her things and redressed, mindful of her leg. It hurt like the devil for her to put any sort of weight on it.

“Hey sprite, you alright?” He asked, trying not to prick her voluminous pride again. He understood her snapping and snarling. He’d be the same way if he’d gotten hurt and almost died again. He could easily sense her inner struggle as if it were a match to his own.

She was trying so hard to be something she didn’t know _ how _ to be.

“I’m fine,” she replied flatly. It was hard to tell with her accent, but he could hear the pain in her voice. Yoon had told him of the splintering crack running up her shin bone and held back a sympathetic wince. How long would it take her to recover? Could they spare that time?

“I’ll heal up quickly, Hak. There is no need to baby me. The Lady will have me right as rain in a few days, you’ll see,” she spoke with more of her normal fluidity. Hak threw her bag over his shoulder and smiled. “The Lady commands?” He said, not quite teasingly.

She returned his smile and took his proffered hand. “The Lady commands, brother. Now, I smell dinner. Take me to it.” She replied, her last words said with all the mock-haughtiness she could muster. Hak laughed and lifted her up as gently as he would have the Princess.

“By the way…” He began as he started walking towards their camp. Naomi could sense his sudden discomfort. “I said something… in the tunnels and it hurt you. I don’t know why, but I saw it and I want to take those words back somehow,” he murmured, flushing slightly.

Naomi chuckled, “You have an odd way of apologizing, Raijuu, but I accept. And I apologize... I should never have walked away.” Guilt puddled in her stomach once more, but she kept it from her face.

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Hak said quietly, “but I know why you did. You didn’t want us to see you hurting. You don’t trust us with your weakness.”

Naomi took a swift breath in and let it out slowly.

“It’s not about trust, Raijuu.” She whispered, her accent getting thicker.

Hak chanced a look down at the tiny assassin he held in his arms, “Then what’s it about, sprite?”

Naomi was miserable. She’d rather be tortured than this. She knew Hak was slowing his footsteps so that he would have time to wring all the guilt out of her, drop by drop. How did she explain to this brave arrogant man, who thought her his equal, that she was so bitterly fragile inside now?

It seemed that the longer she was a part of this group, the more of her old self slipped away. Where was the confidence? The arrogance? Where had the young woman who mockingly dared the world to challenge her gone?

_ She died when you opened your heart and gave the world a way to hurt you once more _, a poisonous little voice whispered in her mind.

“I… I just don’t want to burden you, Son Hak. I don’t want to burden _ her _. I swore to protect her and so far I’ve done a piss poor job of doing so. I’m not used to feeling so…” She searched for the word to describe her inner turmoil.

“... Inadequate.”

Yes, that word. Naomi, for the first time in a long time, felt inadequate at her job. 

Hak was silent for a moment, his footsteps slow and heavy.

“Well, that makes two of us then, sprite.”

The admission caught her off guard.

“I almost lost her in there. I promised her Father that I would look after her and protect her. But I let her go into the tunnels without me and then we were buried. I couldn’t get to her and I knew that I had failed. Failed her, failed the King…” His voice was thick with such emotion, Naomi felt herself responding in turn.

They made a fine pair, didn’t they?

“Then I found her and the others and I was so relieved. Then she asked where you were once we got out and none of us knew. Not a single one of us had thought that you wouldn’t make it out. I kept looking around expecting you just to appear like you do. When you didn’t, and the Princess became so frantic, I failed not just her, but you too. You trusted me to have your back, but when you were injured and trapped in those damn tunnels, I couldn’t do a thing.” He jostled her by accident when his footfalls became angry just remembering those moments before Seiryuu had dashed back into the darkness.

Naomi, for her part, was stunned speechless.

“If I had just stopped you from going after those men, if I had paid more attention, then I wouldn’t have almost lost you both.”

The red haired woman rested her cheek against his chest and sighed in unison with him.

“We both made mistakes. It was my own fault for running off into the darkness because I didn’t want you to know I was hurting. I got injured because I was foolish enough to try and fight when I couldn’t see and my senses were dulled. We’re both equally guilty.”

They both saw the light of the campfire ahead and looked at each other.

“We’ll do better. Won’t we?” She asked, blue eyes meeting blue eyes with trust in both pairs.

Hak grinned, “Of course, sprite. Now we just get to stick annoyingly close to her.” Naomi’s peal of laughter brought smiles to everyone’s faces as they entered the firelight.

It was good to hear her laugh. She hadn’t looked very good since Seiryuu had pulled her from the tunnels. She’d worn a haggard, stricken look about her and she covered her self loathing with snarling resentment.

Yoon pushed a bowl of stew in front of her, a green apple and a mug of something steaming. She eyed the mug suspiciously.

Yoon only crossed his arms and stared at her with his sternest glare. “You need food and sleep. No arguments.” Naomi was almost tempted to argue just for the fun of it, but she could feel her Lady’s blessing moving sluggishly through her. Food and sleep would help her recovery and help her out of her state of invalidness faster. 

So she ate the soup and the apple that had a delightfully crisp flavor to it, then drank her medicine. Whatever was in it, Naomi was soon sound asleep wrapped in her strange cloak.

The Princess refused to leave her side, stroking Naomi’s hair gently. She enjoyed watching the wariness and tension leave the beautiful young woman’s face. It was the first time she’d ever seen Naomi asleep before.

In sleep, she looked much, much younger. Not quite so sharp.

Yona loved that Naomi trusted her to watch over her while she slept. The red haired assassin would never have slept if she didn’t feel like she would be safe doing so. It made Yona’s heart very full.

She was just very relieved that her guardian angel, who was becoming very much like an older sister, had come out of that terrible darkness alive.

“She’ll be okay?” She asked Yoon, gently trailing her fingers across one beautifully formed cheekbone. Yoon just looked at the Princess. It shocked him quietly to see the love and protectiveness in the Princess’ amethyst eyes.

“Isn’t she always? Naomi would never allow herself to grow too injured to serve you.” Yona’s brow furrowed. She didn’t like the idea that Naomi served her, but she felt something so right thinking that Naomi was hers. Hers to protect, hers to care for. It was like having a Hak that she didn’t feel so conflicted over.

They were two of a kind, her bodyguard and her assassin.

Stubborn, proud, and arrogant, but noble and kind and unfailingly attentive.

And they were hers.

“I just want to keep her by my side, Yoon. She is my sword and I need her. Maybe once she knows that I don’t want her to be anything else but herself, she won’t feel so divided.” She murmured, not knowing how she knew the words for it, but knowing she was right.

She didn’t need another bodyguard with Hak there. She needed a weapon.

In her sleep, Naomi rolled over and whimpered quietly.

“Hush, my steelsinger. I am here,” she whispered, Yona’s voice taking on Naomi’s wonderful lilting accent. The tension in the sleeping woman ebbed away as Yona crooned to her.

“I am here.”

* * *

Sometime in the night, unable to escape with the sleeping draught in her system, Naomi fought nightmare after stomach turning nightmare. She couldn’t wake herself so she resigned herself to fight.

The new nightmare though, she found was more terrible than her previous ones because she simply couldn’t fight. She was trapped, well and truly. In a dark little stone box that grew smaller every time she breathed. She struggled futilely against the oppressive darkness and the cold damp stone, but she couldn’t fight it. It wasn’t something she could stab or strangle into letting her go. It wasn’t something she could seduce or outthink. None of her blessings could save her.

She was helpless against it and Naomi howled in fear and fury.

A familiar cruel laughter floated to her, remnants of another nightmare.

The stone continued to close on her, forcing her knees to her chest and her head bent beneath the pressure.

_ Please help me... _

Little bells rang in her ears and so suddenly, the pressure was gone. It was still dark, but it wasn’t that terrifying tomb-like darkness she had come to fear. It was the warm comforting darkness of the Lady’s embrace, a place where you knew the stars would shine.

A masculine voice whispered to her and far away she felt calloused fingers caress her face, wiping away the tears that had escaped down her cheeks.

Hak? No, the voice was higher than the Thunder Beast’s rumbling bass. Yoon? No, Yoon was curled into her side, fast asleep. Kija? No, this voice was much gentler than the White Dragon’s.

It had to be Seiryuu. The Blue Dragon, who’s bells now lay in her hardwood box with her Master’s Shakuhachi.

He had such hands. Comfortingly calloused from wielding a sword from a young age, but they were warm and kind. He’d hidden her tears before as well.

“Seiryuu…” She murmured sleepily, her brain not fully functioning.

The fingertips stopped momentarily then traced the arch of her brow

“My name is Shin-Ah now. Yona gave it to me.” The voice said, full of awe and wonder.

Shin-Ah. It meant moonlight in Koukan. _How appropriate_.

His fingers drifted down her jawline, as delicate as a butterfly. They held a sort of reverence in them as they traced her bold, sharp features.

“Sleep. No dark terror can find you now. I am here.” He murmured, remembering the words Yona had used to calm the nightmare ridden woman. “I am here.”

Naomi slept peacefully for the first time in a dozen years.


	12. Chapter Twelve

It took Naomi two days to be able to finally walk on her own. Two days of being carried like Kija’s grandma and grumbling about it the whole time. Kija had woken up the next morning when he sensed the next Dragon. Ryokuryuu, the Green Dragon.

_ Two down _ , Naomi thought, _ two to go _.

Her head still gave her problems, throwing vicious headaches across her skull if she wasn’t careful. Her hand healed up quickly, with only a slight grinding noise within it to show the breakage that had once been there.

Even sitting down and being mindful of her leg, Naomi had practiced her swordsmanship, training her hand back to its proper form. The Princess, who now as Naomi had been informed, went by her first name Yona with everyone (but Hak) had watched the flashing swords with palpable interest.

Naomi wouldn’t let her wield a sword though until the Princess had mastered the Rigmar to Naomi’s standards. But she didn’t stop the young princess from watching.

Having Shin-Ah in the group changed the dynamic some, but in a good way. Kija was much more confident and energetic with one of his Dragon brothers there and with Shin-Ah’s far-seeing eyes, they didn’t have to wander as far off trail.

Naomi hadn’t mentioned the night he had banished her nightmares, nor spoken of the contentment she had felt at his touch. In fact, he seemed totally oblivious to her presence. ‘Seemed’ was a good word for it.

She could never confirm it since his wooden mask covered his eyes, but sometimes she felt him looking at her. Always while she was doing something simple, like brushing her hair or sharpening her blades.

Pleased and disconcerted, she made an effort not to look at him either.

Sometimes, she couldn’t help it. He scampered into the trees as easily as she could to use his eyes to scan for towns or villages and she would see him lift his mask just a bit.

She couldn’t see his eyes, but she would see more of his face and she was startled by its mature strength. The red tattoos that were etched below his eyes gave him a fearsome countenance, but Naomi knew its gentle aspect as well.

It was a beautiful face.

Roses bloomed on Naomi’s cheeks and she quickly suppressed it before any of the others noticed, listing off the poisons her Master had managed to teach her and their cures until she calmed. She stood from her resting place to get a drink of water, careful of the weight she put on it and feigned confidence, hoping no one would see the hesitation in her stride.

Naomi should have known one person would see.

“Naomi, are you okay?” Princess Yona asked quietly. Naomi lifted an eyebrow and gave her most enigmatic smile, “Of course, Princess. Why?”

Yona’s amethyst eyes turned compelling and fierce and Naomi felt the pressure behind them. It was a very disconcerting stare.

“You would tell me, right? You’d tell me if something was wrong?” Naomi winced, knowing she would do no such thing. The Princess needed to focus on the task at hand. Naomi refused to be a distraction to her. “Don’t worry, sweet girl. I’ll be alright. Always am.”

Another disconcerting stare and Yona stepped even closer to the other red haired woman. They were almost of a height, Naomi topping her by maybe an inch or two, but in that moment Yona seemed very tall indeed. “I wish you wouldn’t lie for my sake,” she whispered, touching a stray lock of blood red hair that curled near Naomi’s face, “I know you’re still hurt and it frightens you. Asking for help isn’t a weakness or a burden. I’ll aid you any way I can.”

Naomi sighed a little and took Yona’s hand, the one that grew stronger every day. She planted a gentle kiss on her pale fingers and smiled that sweet smile that Yona had come to love so much. “Your compassion is a gift and something that will make you a good Queen. I am a good assassin and have my own gifts. So do not worry for me, Yona.” She brushed a finger over the Princess’ perfect cheek and then strode past her before Yona could give her another of those bottomless stares that made Naomi want to kneel in absolution.

She splashed water on her face and drank deeply from a tiny creek. There was a bitter taste to the water there. She splashed more on her face and neck, some of her loose hairs sticking wetly to her skin. A rustle behind her made her tense, but she kept her eyes on the sun sparkled waters.

“I’m fine, you know. There is no need to check up on me,” she murmured, turning to find Shin-Ah standing by the tree line.  
Not quite who she was expecting, but a zing of pleasure shot through her body at seeing him.

_ Stop it _, she said sternly to herself. This is not the time to indulge in girlish fantasies. He is a member of your group now and you can’t afford any distractions. She calmed her heart and gave herself a quelling mental shake.

“Would you like some water, Shin-Ah?” He was silent as he nodded. He was very quiet, but Naomi remembered how she was when she had first been taken from the Warlords. It had taken her Master months to coax more than two words out of her.

He might not have suffered the inane cruelties that the Warlords were capable of, but she had seen the people he had lived with and Orella had spoken of him. Life had not been kind to him.

The dragon knelt by her and scooped the water into his mouth with his hands just as she had done. There they sat in companionable silence. Naomi found there was no real need for words. They understood each other rather well without them.

He borrowed her whetstone and sharpened his blade while she filled her waterskin and braided her hair, winding it in a bun at the crown of her head. It was comfortable, something that reminded her much of her time with her Master after a long day’s travel.

Time had passed and it wasn’t until she felt a brush of fingers over her shoulder did she realize that she’d been quietly meditating for over half an hour.

“Time to go back, eh?” She said with a sweet smile. He nodded, his lips curving slightly.

Without a word, he put his hands beneath her arms and lifted her to her good foot, not letting go until she gingerly settled some weight on her left leg. It hurt, but it was a manageable pain. She didn’t thank him and he wasn’t expecting to be thanked. He knew how badly she was hurt, just by reading the pain furrows that would etch themselves across her fine face, and that she was proud. She wouldn’t ask for help, even if she needed it. Shin-Ah was tickled at how resentful she was of having to ask for assistance.

She shifted on her feet, turning to go when she was halted by the lightest brush of his fingers. They traced the numb, dark scar across her cheekbone, concern in the touch.

“Poison arrow from the Fire Tribe,” she murmured, a half smile on her lips. A flash of anger from him, barely concealed. She chuckled lightly, “I got it in service to Princess Yona. I’ll carry it proudly.” He smiled and touched it once more, full of understanding and a bit of pride, then let his hand drop.

They walked back together, neither of them making a sound as they wove through the forest. It was pleasant for Naomi.

She would have loved to spar with him and see how well he danced.

Pleasant thoughts like that dissipated in the hours that followed, as soon as they entered the next village. All Naomi’s thoughts vanished in a storm of emotion.

It looked like many parts of Belarusia. More, it _ felt _ like parts of Belarusia. It was what her home village would have come to look like if Naomi hadn’t chosen to do what she had as a child.

Dilapidated buildings, dead dry fields, and poor, starving, dirty people. Sick people. Dying people.

Mothers held their pitifully squalling babes, wishing they could feed them, but their milk dried up when the food did. Old men coughed, their lungs full of mucus and young men wheezed, barely having the energy to draw breath.

She moved slowly to stand next to Yona, whose face was very blank and her lovely eyes filled with shock and horror. Kija was the same, his dragon hand covering his mouth. Hak stared around unfazed. He, of all of them, was unsurprised by the state of the village. Kija and Yona had been sheltered for so long, they had never seen the depth of depredation a land could reach if uncared for.

Yoon broke the silence.

“It’s a village that was abandoned… by the General and the King.” He said quietly, carefully modulating his words. “This area hasn’t cultivated crops for years and there is no water close by. It’s likely all the able-bodied men were all brought to the capital to be trained as soldiers,” Yoon sighed with weariness.

“Illness runs rampant and only those without the strength to migrate are left to die here.”

It really did sound like what parts of Belarusia had become. Unlike Kouka though, Naomi’s people had weathered the harshness and those who could, helped those people that had been left to die. Naomi’s Father was one of those people and he had built his Chieftainship on aiding those who suffered. Perhaps that’s why the Warlords wanted him to suffer most of all.

“Terrible..” Yona murmured, her eyes fixed ahead, as if she was absorbing all of this and branding it in her mind.

“The village I was born in was like this, too. The Land of Fire is vast, but almost all of it is barren.”

Thank all the Gods, my home has always been fertile, Naomi thought. Akamine Orchard would never look like this village. She wouldn’t let her home become another Land of Fire. The Warlords and all the Kaitai Empire could not stamp out the Blood of the Mountains.

She hoped.

“Even with that, the head of the Fire Tribe, General Kan Soo-Jin, keeps all the money just for the government.” Naomi’s hands tightened on the hilts of her daggers. Perhaps eliminating Kan Soo-Jin wasn’t such a bad idea anymore…

The group was distracted when one of the older men, rolled over and coughed a terrible rattling cough. Yona moved to help him, but Yoon stopped her. It wouldn’t do for the Princess to take ill from such a place.

Yoon went to give the man medicine and when Yona moved so did Naomi, like an extension of the Princess’ shadow. Yona held the man so gently as she helped him to drink the medicine from Yoon’s bottle and tucked the apple that Naomi gave her into the man’s hand.

_ Such kindness _ , Naomi thought, watching the young Princess. It hurt to see the pain in her eyes though. _ This is the first time she had seen something like this _ , the logical part of the assassin’s brain said. _ More than that, this is the first time she’s seen the truth about her kingdom _, the emotive part of her brain responded.

“A...Are you people from Saika?” The man asked between coughing fits.

Naomi stayed silent since her accent would be viewed with suspicion. She hovered over Yona, looking like nothing more than a brown, black and green blur with her hood up to hide her hair and her cloak covering her weapons.

“No, we’re travellers,” Yoon said, caution in every syllable. He didn’t need to worry though. The man was barely lucid. “I see… then have you been to Kuuto? The new King that has risen… I wonder what kind of person he is…”

At the mention of Soo-won, both women hid a flash of emotion too unsettling to give words to.

Oh, my precious young King, what has become of you?

“The last King…”

Naomi tensed unreasonably.

“Il was a horrible King… when pressures from other countries mounted, he only cared about not making a ruckus…” Naomi put a hand on Yona’s shoulder, but the Princess didn’t even feel it. She couldn’t feel anything at all.

“And while the other tribes grew, he didn’t give aid to the citizens who were weak… whose King was he?”

This man… he had no idea who he was speaking to…

“It’ll be nice if this King is a good person… if he is someone who can... bring change to this country…”

Naomi was half caught between killing the man and comforting him.

Nothing that he said was untrue. Il had not been a good King. But to say those kinds of things to his daughter, a girl who watched someone she loved murder him. It was unacceptable.

“Oh thank you, miss. I don’t know how long it’s been since someone touched me…”

For a beat, Yona was silent.

“No… please get well,” she said in a soft sighing voice. Her eyes were hard and blank and her expression twisted something inside of Naomi. Gods, poor Princess...

Then it was gone and Yona smiled at all of them.

“I-I’ll be gone just a minute! Don’t follow me okay?” She walked away from all of them quickly. Of course, she’d want a place to cry alone for a second.

Naomi froze for a second, a flash of pain from her shin startling her, then glanced at Hak who stared after his Princess. Gritting her teeth, the hurt young woman slipped into the shadow of a building and limped after her Princess to the place she had gotten before collapsing in sorrow.

She had her hood pulled up and her hand covered her mouth to stifle her sobs and she said nothing as Naomi slid down beside her. Yona was too lost in her grief to reprimand the assassin for not listening.

Naomi was not good at this. She wasn’t good at comforting or consoling. She had no words that would ease the jagged pain in her wayward Princess’ heart. All she had were her sharp blades, her sharp words, and her strong arms. And a heart that understood what it was to know the ugliness of one’s homeland.

She supposed it would have to be enough.

Naomi wasn’t much bigger than Yona, but her muscular arms went around Yona’s waist and pulled her into her lap. Yona’s head pillowed on Naomi’s chest as her arms went around her, shrouding them both in her cloak.

Like Tae-yeon in Fuuga so long ago, Yona buried herself in Naomi’s warmth, the feeling of strong arms surrounding her and the powerful drum that beat in the assassin’s chest.

She mourned her Father still and her only pride was in being his daughter. And now she knew that no one would mourn him with her. History would know him as the cowardly King and no one would remember his daughter, the girl who’d once outshined the stars.

Naomi rejected that thought. They would remember. The assassin would make sure the world knew the daughter of the cowardly King was a woman of surpassing resilience and kindness who would one day be a Queen to match King Hiryuu of old.

Naomi would make sure of it.

* * *

They didn’t stay long in the village.

They offered what aid they could, but it wasn’t much. Naomi spent all her time with Yona, acting as her strength. Yona was somehow attuned to the assassin, sensing her presence and her closeness. Naomi was like Yona’s shadow, when the Princess moved, so did Naomi. They left quietly, vanishing into the forest. That night no one slept well, least of all the two red haired women.

Naomi spent her night in prayer, close but not too close to the Princess who put arrow after arrow into the trunk of a tree. It was immensely gratifying to see Yona’s blooming confidence with the bow.

Yet, Naomi knew of the Princess’ internal fight. Naomi had listened carefully when the Princess had told her of her life before Soo-won had murdered her Father. How King Il had never let his beloved daughter even think of holding a weapon.

The assassin sympathized, but struggled to understand it. Her Father had been the one who taught her to hold a blade properly. No one in Belarusia survived without knowing how to fight. Naomi’s own mother had been a master archer and no bad hand with a dagger.

To forbid the learning of weaponry was to hand your life and safety over to someone else. That was a concept that made Naomi shudder. To be helpless in the face of danger, to rely on someone else to fight for you; Naomi could think of no greater horror.

A horror, she was coming to see that Yona lived with every day. It was that fear of helplessness that drove the Princess to shoot over 200 arrows a night, to practice the Rigmar till she was about to collapse. She wanted to become strong to protect herself and those she loved so Yona could not remain unable to fight.

So Naomi prayed and put her trust in the Lady, that the Goddess would reach down and raise Yona to the same strength that ran in Her children.

That set the pattern for the next few days. The place Kija had sensed the Green Dragon turned out to be much farther than they had thought. Not that it bothered Naomi much as she needed the time to heal. Her head finally stopped aching in the sunlight and her hand, though it still had that grinding noise deep within it, was functional once more.

Only her leg gave her cause for concern.

She could walk on it just fine, even run. Climbing sometimes could be a challenge, but she never let that stop her. It was dancing, moreover, fighting that worried the red haired assassin. Hesitation ruined the fluidity of her movements, ruined the timing of her strikes. Her balance was all wrong and in her sparring matches with Hak, he knocked her to the ground 9 out of 10 times. The large man never said anything, but she could read the worry in his eyes as easily as a book.

If she couldn’t regain her balance and confidence, her effectiveness as a fighter would be halved.

That, Naomi thought, is unacceptable.

Yoon did his best with his healing skills. She ate plants that helped promote bone health, ate lots of red meat and tried to keep her weight off of it whenever possible. But there was a lot of ground to cover and there was very little time to nurse an injury.

Nights were filled with exhaustion and pain.

And for Naomi, a kind of solace within a silent figure who had become likened to her own shadow. 

He was always there, quietly keeping watch and giving aid without being asked. He gathered the herbs Yoon used for her care, cleaned the myriad of bruises and scrapes she acquired during her sparring matches and in the dark of night, brushed his fingertips across her skin till she slept.

Sometimes, she would snap at him for fussing, but he would only smile a private smile and continue whatever he had been doing. His presence was as solid as a stone sentinel and as quiet as a shadow in the night, save for the few words he would murmur to her on rare occasions.

It was comforting. More than comforting.

He enjoyed hearing the music she made on her Master’s shakuhachi as much as the rest of the group and would watch her, spellbound, as her fingers danced across the wood. And on the nights where she could find no relief in sleep, she taught him how to play. It was a simple joy to see his well made lips pursed above the mouthpiece and his strong fingers making out a warbling note.

Shin-Ah listened as Naomi described the parts of her life she was willing to divulge. Of her more challenging contracts and some of the hilariously sticky situations she had found herself in.

Unsurprisingly, he had a wonderful laugh, low and rich.

For a while, it was lovely.

But, of course, such times never last long.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_ There is nothing like a deadline to galvanize someone into getting better _ , Naomi thought, striking at Hak with an open palm in the middle of his chest.

The blow knocked the wind from the big man, but he pressed his attack forward, glaive spinning in his hands. Naomi smiled fiercely as she met those attacks with swift ones of her own.

This was the sixth sparring bout she and the bodyguard had pushed for in two hours. Yoon and Hak weren’t sure that it was a good idea for Naomi to be putting so much strain on herself, but she’d been tight lipped and tense for two days in a row. Only during these bouts did she come close to normal. No one, not even Yona, knew why the assassin was so on edge.

The red haired woman moved left and Hak moved with her, but suddenly found himself flat on his back, staring at the twilight sky.

Someone gave an enthusiastic whoop, but when Hak looked at his opponent, Naomi was merely smiling with satisfaction as her deep breathing slowed to normal. Damn, he had forgotten how fast she could be. He’d barely seen her move after the feint.

“Nice move, sprite.” He said, groaning to his feet. Naomi gave him one of her sharp, sweet smiles and rolled her hand carefully. A tiny grinding noise could be heard, but slowly it was vanishing. He’d seen and felt nothing wrong with it when she had knocked the air from his lungs.

“One more?” She asked immediately and Hak shook his head. “You’ve knocked me over four out of six times, Naomi and you’re barely three weeks healed. There is a little lake not too far from here…” He proffered, smiling at her expression. She was rather sweaty and hot despite the cool mountain air. A quick bath sounded like a godsend. “Alright, we’ll stop for the night, but only because I don’t want to see you get your back dirty again.” She jabbed with a wicked grin. Hak matched it and waved her off, going to find Yoon for a bit to drink.

As soon as Hak was out of sight, Naomi’s pleasant expression vanished and the agony was obvious on her face. She could stand and that was it. Her shin was filled with sharp stabbing pain that crept up all the way into her hip. Limping to a fallen log left her shaking, even as she chanted a healing mantra. She sat down and wrapped her arms around her leg, cradling and crooning to it like an upset child. 

The pain eased after ten minutes and she breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, she did not relax. She couldn’t. Not with the message she had received a few days pass hovering in her mind like a ghost.

_ A Dance has been called. _

She knew it would happen. It had to. To all the world, she had died weeks ago and so a new Master had to be chosen. It still stung had though, to think that someone else would hold that title while she lived. Hence, her decision.

Naomi would go to the Dance and re-establish herself as the Master. How she would slide around her apparent demise- she would figure that out when she had to.

_ Running into danger without a plan again, little dragon?  _ Her Master’s voice echoed in her head, knowing he would be frustrated and amused. Her bottom lip poked out in a mock pout and then grinned. Her dear Master would have berated her fiercely for this. Her pride outweighs her good sense, he would have said.

Pride had something to do with it, yes. But there was more than her own skin at risk if she did not answer the call.

Eventually, someone would realize that Hak, Yona and herself had survived the fall. When that happened all of them, especially Princess Yona, would have a pretty price on their heads. Bounty Hunters and assassins alike would come to claim the money or the renown that would come of completing a hit on them. Her reputation would no longer protect them; if anything it would make things worse. Many young assassins would come to try and end her for the infamy of taking her head, a lasting mark on their reputation- a one way ticket to bragging rights forever.

If she didn’t go, if she let them assume she was dead, willingly let them take her title, then when they discovered her deception they would know her a coward.  _ Chimamire no koibito  _ would no longer be someone to fear- and they would come for her.

She had to get ahead of them. She had to protect herself and her companions.

So she would go at first light. Tell Yona she was going to see a friend and she would go to the Dance, following the secret signs all the Lady’s children knew.

Naomi had done it once. She would do it again. She was still the Dark Mother’s chosen, the Master of the Dance, and she would prove it to the upstarts that wished to take her crown.

Fire pulsed in her veins thinking about it and it felt good. So good.

She felt like she had before the fall and the poison and the darkness and the pain. Like the Bloody Lover who had been happy to sit back and watch the world burn as long as she got paid.

Then it faded and she was dirty, tired, and thirsty. A dip in a lake sounded wonderful.

Moving slowly, she stole over the small rise and found the lake Hak had mentioned. It was almost a pond, but it was deep enough for her to sit and submerge herself in.

Stripping off her dirty practice clothes and laying aside her precious weapons, Naomi slipped into the water and watched the ripples her aching movements caused radiating across the calm surface. The metal chain around her neck should have been starting to cool, but it was still warm against her skin.

It was chilly enough that her nipples hardened and goosebumps stood up on her pale skin. Dragging her clothes into the water, she scrubbed them clean as well.

The half moon had risen in the sky and Naomi smiled to see it. The pale light kissed her skin delicately and turned the pool to silver.

She washed, mesmerized by the effect of the ripples she created as she sluiced the dirt from her skin and her hair.

There was no way to know that there were eyes upon her.

She was not the only one mesmerized by beauty.

* * *

He had been bringing her food, drink, and medicine, following the trail she had made through the woods.

He knew he should have turned away, should have left the food, and gone back to camp. But he had never seen a woman, certainly not one who looked like Naomi did. He was in utter awe of her and could not bear to look away.

She was a piece of poetry, an immortal thing made of moonlight and dark sky. He’d always thought that her face held an exquisite symmetry, perfectly proportioned, but it wasn’t just her face. Everything about her was made in a Goddess’ image. There was no way that divinity had nothing to do with it.

She faced the moon and lifted her arms as if to embrace it, water covering her to her hips. She looked as if she had been born from the silver pool and his eyes traced the shape of the black and gold dragon that snaked left to right all the way up her back, jaws open and roaring to the back of her neck.

Maybe his eyes were tricking him somehow, but he could have sworn he saw something in the tattoo.

Hidden masterfully by the artist, beneath the scales and claws of the mighty beast, were the slender ridges of hundreds of scars crisscrossing her back beneath the ink.

The kind of scars left by a lifetime of cruelty.

She ducked beneath the water once more and the thick drape of her waterlogged hair covered the secret etched on her back. He hadn’t realized that the branch his hands had been resting on had cracked beneath a moment of irrepressible fury.

He couldn’t imagine how she had come to have those kinds of scars. Didn’t want to imagine it. If he thought about it too hard, he was certain he would roar his rage to the earth and sky and begin the longest hunt he’d ever undertake.

She must have heard the branch snap because she turned on a dime and saw him standing there in the trees watching her.

“Shin-Ah?” She called. Blood rushed to his face. He’d been warned about this and now would pay the price of his disrespect.

Then, unexpectedly, Naomi threw back her head and laughed.

Her body shook in… interesting ways, but Shin-Ah was fascinated by her face. Simple laughter transformed her sharp features into something younger and more carefree.

Still chortling, she sank into the water and slid towards the bank. Propping her arms up on the shore, her body hidden by the water, she crooked a finger at the stunned Blue Dragon who did as he was bid..

Mirth made her eyes sparkle brighter than the stars and Shin-Ah couldn’t take his eyes away from this wondrous new face he had startled out of her. There were little dimples tucked away in the smoothness of her cheeks that he had never seen before. It was a true smile. Not her sassy grin, her sharp smirk, but a true smile.

How had he never seen those dimples?

When he knelt by the water, he could’ve sworn she was a water nymph come to drag him to her dark depths to drown. If she did, he’d be the happiest man to die.

“You know, if you wanted to see me naked all you had to do was ask.”

She was still laughing when the blush crept up his ears and down his neck, fingers toying with the talisman that hung around her graceful throat.

“I-uh! No, it’s-ah! I…” He stuttered, waving his hands as if to banish the thought. He thought about the situation and decided to immediately bury himself in the deepest hole he could find.

It was definitely not one of his ‘first’ experiences that he would be sharing. His internal monologue leading up to his first time spying on a woman bathing would not be explainable and certainly none of it would cast him in a decent light.

Naomi chuckled, enjoying his flustered expression, resting her chin on her stacked hands. He was practically shaking with nervous embarrassment and she found his reaction so endearing. Feminine pride zipped through her. Although she had never enjoyed being on display, she had also never been shy about her body. Belarusians weren’t exactly known for their modesty.

She watched him as he calmed himself down enough to give the food and medicine to her. Eating took enough time that the Blue Dragon had relaxed once more and even allowed himself to nibble on the bits of cheese Naomi forced him to have.

They watched each other, trying to be covert about it. Shin-Ah was better at it than Naomi thanks to his mask. The sound of bells chimed in the red haired woman ears and it made the sweetest music with the rippling water and his quiet breathing.

She was content, but for the ax hanging over her head. Her hand tightened on her talisman of the Lady.

She would have to leave him. Even if only for a few days, she’d still be gone.

Shin-Ah watched sadness bloom in her eyes and searched for the words that would bring back her smile. Any words at all. He searched his memory for any interaction that could give him a clue as to what to say to a woman as strange and wonderful as Naomi.

Nothing. He had nothing. No clues, no hints. He could only watch mutely as the smile slipped from her face, lips turning to a slight pout. Those wonderfully shaped lips looked so soft and pink. He wondered how to politely ask if he could touch them with his own.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked, cocking a sassy eyebrow at him.

A slight blush came back to his face.  _ I was thinking that I’ve never kissed anyone before- and that I’d very much like to learn how to from you. _

He shrugged and smiled at her, coaxing a small one back in return. No dimples. Not a real smile.

She looked back down, that small flicker of a smile once more fading.

“Naomi..” he murmured tenderly. He liked the way her name sounded on his lips. She glanced back up, looking entirely too lovely for words to describe. “Yes?”

He reached his hand over and ran his fingers along her cheek, the one with the dark scar she bore with pride.

She must not be proud of her other scars if she hid them behind layers of ink, he thought, continuing to trace his fingers over her skin like he did when she would sleep.

_ You are so strong. _

He wanted to say. He knew so little about her and she held her secrets close, but he knew her journey here had not been an easy one.

_ You are bold and kind and noble. _

Her wet skin was like porcelain in the moonlight, the light the Princess had named him for. He still couldn’t believe that two women who were so different and yet so alike, had come into his life. A Princess and an Assassin.

Oh, Naomi had never lied. She was the Bloody Lover. A bounty hunter. A seducer. A killer.

But she was also just Naomi.

She was funny, and patient, and loving.

She loved apples and climbing trees, dancing and music.

_ You are fascinating and wild. _

If he could only say it.

He ran his thumb across her bottom lip and she watched him with an odd vulnerability in her eyes. Oh, how he adored her eyes.

_ You are unbelievably beautiful. _

Why couldn’t he say it?

“Naomi.” He whispered again, memorizing the feel of her name on his tongue while his first finger traced the shape of her full lips. Fingers drifted up and he cupped her cheek in his calloused hand, pressing warm flesh to chilled. There was that vulnerability and openness, frightening and endearing him.

“Shin-Ah?” Was there a wistfulness in her voice? A softness that he had just noticed?

_ Say it _ , he thought,  _ say it _ .

“...are you getting cold?”

Her eyebrow gave a confused little bobble as he reluctantly pulled his hand from her cheek.

_ Coward _ .

“I suppose I am. Hand me my cloak?” She asked, disappointment putting walls up in her eyes. He cursed himself fiercely as he reached for that oddly colored, oversized cloak she was so fond of.

He turned away as she stood from the water and only turned back when he was sure she was wrapped in her cloak.

She looked very young and rather lonely.

“Thank you for bringing me the food. I appreciate it.” She murmured, walking to the trees and throwing her wet practice clothes over the branches to dry.

“You are welcome.”

She shivered and pulled her cloak tighter to her body, murmuring in her native language, clutching that black and gold winged figure again. Her Lady of Blessed Night that she had told him of during the long evenings that they had talked.

Did she think he would just walk away?

“Naomi?” He called, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake.

She turned and pushed the wet hair away from her face. In her eyes, he saw his own dark silhouette cast by the rising half moon. _ Please let her understand _ , he thought.

He opened his arms, a gesture he had seen Yona use.

“I am here.”

_ There, I said it. _

So he waited with his arms open to see if she could hear everything he wished he had the eloquence and confidence to say.

He was much taller than her, so when she stepped into his arms her head came up to his chin.

Often times she could seem so larger than life, but when he wrapped his arms around her he realized how small she was. How soft her curves were and how good it felt to have her pressed against him.

They stood a few moments like that, her chilly tension abating in the warm circle of his arms.

The crickets were singing softly and Naomi sighed into Shin-Ah’s warm chest. Bells chimed in her ears and in her soul, but she didn’t move to step away.

“Shin-Ah?” She murmured quietly, wondering why she was doing this even though she knew better.

“Mm.”

“I’m leaving in the morning.”

She felt him stiffen and heard the unspoken word.

_ Why? _

“There is something I have to do.” She whispered, pulling her head back enough that she could look into the eyes of his mask. “Something that will keep Yona and the others safe. I’ll only be gone a few days and then I’ll come back.”

The tension didn’t leave him. He didn’t want her to go. Why did she have to go?

“I had a thought. Would you do something for me?”

Somehow the word  _ anything _ slipped out from beneath the Blue Dragon’s breath.

Naomi slid her hands up his chest and splayed her fingers across the lean muscles. She knew she might be asking too much, but it was worth a try to ask.

“Will you look at me without the mask between us?” She breathed, hoping her voice hadn’t given away her longing to see his eyes actually looking at her. Not the blank stare of his wooden mask.

The Blue Dragon went completely still, barely even breathing.

_ She wants to see my cursed eyes? _

_ They will kill her. I could never… _

“I can’t,” he whispered the words in a cracked voice, “they’ll hurt you.”

Hurt Naomi? Never. Never, never, never.

A peculiar expression crossed her face. Half wry, half curious.

“You could never hurt me,” she murmured, knowing it as the truth. “I trust you.”

_ And if I do hurt you, I’ll never forgive myself. _

Her hands rose from his chest, up the strong column of his neck to rest against the mask. He was shaking, not in nervous embarrassment this time, but in fear. How could he tell her that his eyes had made him an unintentional killer? That they were a weapon that had no handle, no control. And that if they hurt her, he would gouge them out.

“Trust me. I’m protected by more than just blades and sarcasm. Trust me, Shin-Ah.” Those words, uttered as such a gentle command, made him almost certain.  _ Trust me _ , she said. And he did. He had to.  _ I do _ .

Shin-Ah closed his eyes as he felt the safety of Ao’s mask slip from his face. The white mane tickled his neck as it rose away from his back.

It had been a long time since he had consented to remove his mask. He knew he shouldn’t be allowing it, but he couldn’t reject her. He fought the urge to tie his protection back around his face and focused instead on her. He could smell the feminine perfume of her scent like a drug that clouded his judgment, picture her perfectly in his mind’s eye.

He would see it all if only he would just open his eyes.

Strong arms guided him around so that the moonlight spread across his bare face.

It felt nice.

Then he felt her fingertips caress hin. They were confident, but gentle as they traced his jaw, the arch of his brow, the tattoos beneath his eyes that marked him as the Blue Dragon. As a monster.

His first memories were of darkness. All his dreams were of darkness and an unwelcoming world. Now, his dreams were filled with red hair, amethyst and sapphire eyes, soft lips and their voices the way they said his name. Yona and Naomi. The Princess he served who brought him into the light and the Assassin he served alongside who reveled in the sinful dark.

The two women who now ruled his life.

“Look at me.”

_ Naomi. _

Shin-Ah opened his eyes.

* * *

Naomi’s heart fluttered like a raven’s wings as she pulled the mask from his face.

Those words again. Where did they come from?

_ Trust me. _

The words whispered to Soo-won the night they spent together that awakened the heart in her chest once more. The same that she had called to Hak that had bound them together on the battlefield.

They must have been a gift from the Dark Mother to Her daughter as an assurance that She was indeed ever watchful. The Lady’s wayward daughter, who was so hated and so loved.

Naomi supposed that this was her blessing.

Seeing Shin-Ah’s face without the mask was like watching someone pull the cover off a masterpiece. Seeing it fully, touched by the moonlight he was named for, Naomi found herself dazzled.  _ Blessed Lady, help me... _

She touched his face, mirroring his actions from those dark nights, tracing invisible lines across his skin. The arch of his blue eyebrows, the sharp contours of his cheeks, the red tattoos marking his cheekbones. His closed eyes had a lovely tilt to them that she had seen echoed in the faces of the men around her. A young face, a kind face, with features that endured sorrow well and matured gracefully.

_ Look at me. _

Reluctant and fearful eyes opened to the moonlight.

According to the Koukan lore on the four Dragon warriors, Hakuryuu, the White Dragon, was gifted with the power of the Dragon in his right hand. It was ten times as strong as any man’s, claws that could tear through anything. This power was currently housed within Kija.

Ryokuryuu, the Green Dragon, was given the power of the Dragon in his right leg. With it, he could leap high into the air as if he were flying. Kicks from the Green Dragon were lethal. The Green Dragon lay to the West and was their current quarry.

Ouryuu, the Yellow Dragon, was given the gift of an indestructible body. Of all the Dragons, he was the most mysterious. Very little was passed down to later generations about Ouryuu and he was still out there somewhere.

And finally, Seiryuu, the Blue Dragon. His gift from the Dragon lay housed within his eyes. Eyes that could see great distances, through walls, and even into a person’s heart. The villagers had said one look from him could turn you to stone and that the current Seiryuu had killed an entire company of soldiers with that cursed power. The power that lay behind a horned mask that even its bearer found fearful. Shin-Ah.

The legends didn’t tell of how beautiful those eyes were.

Slitted black pupils amid molten gold irises sat in that gorgeous angular face- no artist could properly render this young dragon’s face. Paint and canvas couldn’t show the pulse of power that washed over the red headed woman as those eyes looked down on her.

It was as intoxicating as any liquor, and she drank it through her pores, pooling it in her lower belly. She could sense the wildness in the gift, how it raced undisciplined over her deliciously naked skin, seeking weakness.

It would find none.

She met his eyes unwaveringly, unafraid. Those sad, sad eyes- entrancing and deadly.

But a creature like Naomi was not so easily hypnotized. Her own blessings pulsed inside of her like another being within her skin. She stared into unfathomable dragon eyes and smiled in challenge-and delight. The Lady laughed joyously in her soul.

He really was quite beautiful.

* * *

Shin-Ah stared in awe at the little woman in his arms.

He could feel the power of the Blue Dragon rushing through her, but it couldn’t take hold of her. There was no paralysis, screaming, or imaginary wounds. No pain or fear in her eyes.

Just happiness. He’d let her take off the mask.

He could see everything so clearly. The rough fabric of her cloak contrasting with the silky smooth skin of her bare shoulder. The wave of her drying hair and the intriguing speckles of violet in her dark cobalt irises. How each individual eyelash brushed the soft faintly bruised skin beneath her eyes like a fan with each blink. A rather new and very male awareness noticed her racing heart in the excited pulse beating in the hollow of her throat.

His own heart was pounding in his chest. He could feel the power spiraling out of control, but his body stood stock still. Only the slight rise and fall of his shoulders showed that he was breathing.

He felt so open, so defenseless against the overwhelming vibrancy and color his powerful eyes blasted into his mind. And her, so bright and dark and everything in between.

She smiled and his heart definitely skipped a few beats.

“See? I told you.” Her accent was thicker than he’d heard it before and he wished he could understand her native language. The lilting cadence lingered in his ears and he managed to chuckle once at the irony.

Mistakenly, his eyes fell once more on her lips and he couldn’t look away.

_ Do it. Find out what they feel like on yours. _

“Promise me that when it is only us, you won’t wear the mask anymore. You know you won’t hurt me. Promise me.” She whispered and he enjoyed watching those lips shape the words. He nodded, promising whatever she wished.

Then she smiled again and the Blue Dragon felt as if he had been cut loose from gravity.

Here was one person whom he could look upon and not fear pain and sorrow to follow. Whose own power protected her from his. His mind began to fuzz, knees trembling, and with a little laugh, Naomi deftly slipped his mask back over his face.

“Baby steps. This was a good first one. You and I need to figure out how to get that power of yours under control.” She murmured.

It was a relief and a sadness to have his mask once again hiding half his face. His muscles relaxed one by one and Naomi laid her head against his chest once more, having gotten what she wanted. More than a look at his eyes, she had his trust.

“They are beautiful, you know.” The words were sweet and solemn as he hesitantly rested his cheek against the top of her damp head and tightened his arms around her. He said nothing, but it pleased him. More than pleased him. He took her words and tucked them into a special place in his heart where they would keep him warm for all the long nights to come.

_ She thinks they are beautiful. _

There was a rustle in the brush near them and suddenly Ao the squirrel leapt up onto Shin-Ah’s shoulder, regarding the two humans curiously.

It startled a peal of laughter from Naomi and giggles that followed when the little orange and white creature began to nibble on Shin-Ah’s hair.

_ Pukkyuu! _

“I think he’s telling us to go to bed. I’ve got a long way to go in the morning.” She sighed, pulling away slightly.

His arms tightened once more, unwilling to let her go.

She saw it and the bittersweet smile she gave him spoke volumes. She didn’t want to go either, but she had to.

Only she knew what was at stake.

_ Please be safe. Come back to us as soon as you are able- whatever you have to do. _

He said none of this, but she heard it regardless- in the arms that loathed to release her, in the fingertips that touched her jawline before they fell to his side.

“Protect her while I’m gone?”

He nodded.  _ Always. _

Naomi wondered if he could hear the bells too, but didn’t ask. She let their quiet singing echo in her footsteps as she carefully gathered her belongings and moved achingly towards the path back to camp. Shin-Ah remained by the water, watching how the pain had subtly and definitely altered the dynamics of her graceful movements.

He wondered where she was going and what she had planned.

Before she disappeared, Naomi turned to the masked moonlit man and raised her hand in farewell before the dark woods swallowed her.

Shin-Ah stared after her until he was sure she had made it back to camp and then took a deep inhale, thinking about this new life of his and the fascinating women of the world that he had never known existed.

“Ao… she thinks my eyes are beautiful.”

* * *

Naomi wanted to scream.

Her body throbbed painfully with desire as soon as she walked away from the Blue

Dragon, whose power still lay coiled inside her.

Dressing in her normal clothes was almost like being skinned.

She was drowning in molten gold eyes and a touch like reverence.

“Going somewhere, sprite?” A deep voice rumbled as she tried to steal out of the camp.

Forget leaving at first light. If she didn’t leave immediately, she wouldn’t leave at all. If he came back to camp, she wouldn’t be able to tear herself away.

Hak and Yona stood by the dying fire, watching her shoulder her pack, bristling with weapons and restless energy. Red stood out on her high on her cheeks and even the tips of her ears and the back of her neck her tinged with blush.

“Actually yes.” She informed them from between clenched teeth. “I have to go somewhere for a few days. I’ll meet up with you past Chishin.”

Hak crossed his arms and tilted his head.

“Where are you going? Is something wrong?” Yona asked, wide eyed and worried.

Naomi took a deep steadying breath, commanding her body to behave. She stepped closer to her Princess, the truest center of her world- and prayed that she had the fortitude to actually lie to her.

“Nothing is wrong, Yona. I just have to go. It’s important, I promise or else I would never dream of going. But I have to.” Naomi said, unable to resist stroking the Princess’ cheek with the back of her knuckles. It was a different texture than the male cheeks she had touched not too long ago.

_ Stop it _ , she told herself sternly.

“... Okay, Naomi. I trust you… just come back quickly, please?” Yona wrapped her arms around the red haired assassin’s neck in a loving hug. It was almost too much for Naomi, but she hugged her Princess back carefully.

Hak just studied her.

“I’ll be back by your side in no time. Make sure to keep these goons out of trouble, eh? And practice your Rigmar. I’ll be testing you when I come back.” The smile on Naomi’s face was meant to be comforting, but it was so sharp it almost hurt to look at.

“I will. Safe journey, Naomi.” Yona said softly, turning to go to her tent.

Hak stayed.

“Let me walk you to the forest’s edge.” He offered, noting how rigid the young woman was. “I’m fine, Raijuu. Just got a long journey ahead of me to make.” Hak nodded and began walking.

Naomi fell in step next to him.

There was an intensity around her that hadn’t been there before she had gone to bathe. He wondered what possibly could have happened.

“So why are you really leaving?”

Naomi glanced at him, jaw clenched.

“You promised not to leave her after what happened in the caves-”

Naomi growled furiously. “I know!”

Hak stared at her till she huffed a sigh and showed some of her weakness. Her hand shook slightly as she ran a hand through her drying hair. “I know, Raijuu. But I have to. For her, for you, for everyone here. I… I don’t leave lightly, but this is something only I can do to keep the Princess safe.”

The two of them reached the edge of the forest, the moon high in the sky.

They were quiet for a moment.

“Can you win?” Hak asked quietly.

“Can? I’m the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, a Priestess of the Lady of Blessed Night. And I am the Master of the Dance. No one can change that. I  _ will _ win.”

Pain is sometimes a gift. It made everything seem so much clearer. Naomi knew what she was going to do.

“Keep her safe, Hak. Keep them all safe or I’ll personally carve your beating heart from your chest. And I mean that with all affection.” It made Hak chuckle to hear and he nodded before turning away.

“The only way they’ll get hurt is if I’m already dead. If I’m not, you’re more than welcome to kill me where I stand, sister.”

Hak turned back as Naomi vanished into the wilds. He gave a nod to where she had last been.

“Bring them to their knees, sprite.” He whispered with a terrible smile.

Naomi loped across the landscape, a ground devouring pace that she could hold for hours. Or she could have if her leg was not flawed and painful. She walked when the pain grew too great and jogged when she could manage it. After resting though, she would cover tracks of land in her urgency.

She could feel it inside of her. 

The killing fire that burned through her body and soul, the flames that shaped her as an assassin and a warrior, burned through the bonds that tethered her heart to a kinder place. All the kindness, mercy, and morality was tucked away, with all these newer, shinier memories of friends and family. Put on a shelf for her to look at occasionally and know it was there, but it would not interfere with the Master’s work.

A killer didn’t need those things.

_ “Hail Lady, full of Grace, hearken to thy daughter’s battlecry…” _

By the time she reached Chishin, Naomi was gone.

Only the Bloody Lover remained.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_ Chimamire no koibito _strode through the travel gates into the capital of the Earth Tribe,

hood up and ready for anything. It had taken her two days to reach the capital and she had changed much in that time.

The cruel smile that adorned her face ensured that no one bumped or jostled her and as she walked, people whispered. 

The Earth Tribe capital was in full swing for the festival that was taking place. There was dancing and music and soon there would be war games. It was all very exciting and it was the perfect cover for all the shadows that were slipping one by one into the crowd, waiting for night to fall.

In the dead of night, the real games would take place.

The cloaked woman’s heart beat fast in thrilled anticipation. It had been so long since she had felt the excitement and terror of performing the Dance in all its bloody glory.

She remembered stealing into Kuuto when she was thirteen, finding the secret meeting place and winning the title. It had been the crowning achievement in the Bloody Lover’s short life and she had retained that title through challenge after challenge. She’d yet to find an event that could cause the same thrill inside of her as a Dance.

Her eyes found a figure standing in the shadow of a jewelry store and her smile grew deeper.

Casually, she sauntered over and slipped like an alley cat into the shadows.

“Hello, Endou-sama.” She murmured, her voice a husky purr.

The slender old man bowed.

“_ Chimamire no koibito _. It is good to see you alive. There were many rumors of your demise in the Fire Tribe lands. It is no surprise though that they were false.” Aging brown eyes stared at the hooded woman, but he could not see her whole face. Only her lips and her chin. It gave him goosebumps, not being able to see her eyes.

“The rumors are false, but I want to make sure no one knows that I live. I’m playing a long game, Endou-sama, and to play it certain people must believe I died weeks ago.”

The older man nodded, understanding.

“No one will know until you wish… Master.”

The Bloody Lover sighed in pleasure.

It made Endou shudder with fear. He remembered when he had first made the acquaintance of the Angel of Death. It had been in the months after her Master had been killed, when she was so full of hatred for the world, that she had killed without regard. He remembered her eyes filled with madness and a fury that could not be sated, no matter how many died. A beautiful face, anointed with the blood of hundreds, maybe even thousands.

Oh yes, he remembered that sigh, that eerie smile, that terrifying purr in her melodious voice.

“It is _ good _ to be back.”

* * *

The Bloody Lover prowled at the edges of the crowd, impatience wearing at her already strung out body. Try as she might, she couldn’t turn her thoughts away from her masked savior in the woods, her red haired heart, her thunderous brother, her mothering young healer and her angel in white that she had left behind with all the good in her heart and soul.

The Lady of Blessed night whispered in her soul, calling for patience, for the homecoming would be worth it.

The pain in her body had crystallized her thoughts on her journey.

Yes, she was playing a long and deadly game with the minds of the nations. She would need every ounce of courage in her body, all the charisma she could muster, and the Lady’s support if she were to pull it off.

She was confident, to say the least.

She went to the market, wandering stall to stall, making sure her hood stayed firmly on her head. It would do no good now to ruin the game with a slip up.

Every once in a while, she would buy something she thought would be a good gift.

She bought a new bow and quiver for herself, as well as four dozen new arrows for herself and her heart. She had to force away the image of giving the gifts. It was too nice. Too human.

So she remembered and prayed. Remembered the blood and the pain and the apathy that had created the Bloody Lover so long ago. It gave her strength to remember who she was.

It was quite easy in a way.

She had left her heart hidden in the mountains.

And everyone knew that the Angel of Death had no heart.

The King’s retinue passed and she couldn’t help but glance at the beautiful young man that rode by, smiling and waving at the crowd. He looked resplendent in his festival attire and all she could think of was the sounds he had made that night, the touch of his hands.

She hated him.

Hated the memories.

They were weaknesses here.

He couldn’t see in the throng of people, the figure shrouded in an oddly colored cloak with wild eyes and clenched jaw. If he could’ve, maybe he would have wondered.

Somewhere in her chest, behind all her walls, she knew there was a spark of light. A pang of longing, a hint of tenderness, a touch of unrepentant sorrow.

She ignored it. After all, it all felt so far away.

Lord Geun-tae rode behind him looking bored and annoyed.

As a man of action, he had languished in his city. His life was made for war and without it, life held no meaning. King Soo-won sought to appease that hunger for violence with games of war.

It would seem that the Bloody Lover was not the only one playing games with the minds of a nation. She briefly wondered who was better at playing them. She smiled after a moment, realizing that she would have the answer sometime in the future.

Having seen enough, she slid away from the crowd toward the room the Endou-sama had given her.

She rather liked the Elder and was pleased that he was smart enough to be her ally. Smart enough to fear her.

He was her assurance that tonight would go as she planned it. She was carefully orchestrating her reveal, moving people like pawns to where she desired. And they would do it for her.

She was, after all, the Queen of the Underground. A match for the King in every way.

They would all bow to her, every single one...

_ The Lady of Blessed Night read the soul of Her wayward daughter, Her favorite child, and smiled in anticipation. _

* * *

It was a night made for death.

The people of the Earth Tribe celebrated Lord Geun-tae’s victory in the streets, hiding the commotion in the dark. The subtle signs and glances given as shadows within shadows moved to the meeting ground.

The Lady spread her cloak across the sky, but hid the moon from sight.

Tonight, only the stars would bear witness to the atrocities about to be committed in the name of power.

She couldn’t wait.

The Bloody Lover moved as another shadow in the dark night, cloaked and hooded like a specter of the Reaper.

Far from the eyes of the populace, stood a makeshift stage lit by flickering torches. Reflectors hid the scene and only those who knew found the entrance and only those who gave the proper response were admitted.

This was no place for the faint of heart. This was no mere spectacle.

This was worship.

The Bloody Lover followed her signs to the entrance and waited.

“By what name do you seek entrance to the Dance?” A disembodied voice whispered to her.

“By one who the Lady has gathered, whose name is Nagashima Hiro, the Viper King.” She murmured in reply. The man was not surprised. Here lay another of her pawns and he knew his part.

The first time she came to the Dance to win, she had merely said his name.

The Viper King, Nagashima Hiro… her most beloved Master.

“Then enter at your own risk, Priestess.”

A slight movement, but she saw it. The reflector shifted and the Bloody Lover slipped into her kingdom.

There were fewer than one might expect, but the path of darkness and murder wasn’t for the weak and good. There had never been more than fifty attendees and this Dance looked to hold only a few less than that.

_ Excellent. _

Her eyes wandered around the gathering, noting new and old faces, those that looked like challenges and those that looked like easy prey.

In one corner of the grounds stood a group of brutish looking mercenary types. And they were led by someone with dirty brown hair and cold reptilian eyes. Glaring at them was a tall, lean, weathered looking man with thinning red hair and fierce grey eyes. A Belarusian.

Yes, there were always a few of her people at these events.

The tradition of the Dance of Death was from her homeland, back when every man, woman, and child of the mountains were the fiercest of fighters and the deadliest of assassins. Long before the Warlords and their disease had come.

She never spoke to them, even when she had introduced herself long ago. They all had their reasons for leaving the motherland and turning down their dark path.

Two brothers stood together looking bored and jaded, brown haired and blue eyed, who came from a village not far from her own.

An older woman with one ice blue eye and silver streaked black hair stood near Endou, rubbing the stump where her left hand had been anxiously. She had come from a province that neighbored the Akamine Estates.

A young man with pale blond hair and sharp green eyes stood at the back observing everyone with an older woman as she did the same. He was a new face, but he had the look of Belarusian stock.

These were the scattered remnants of a once great people. Ones that clung to tradition in the only way they knew how outside of Belarusia herself.

The Lady’s true children.

Endou ascended the short dais and the disorganized groups clustered before him.

It was time to begin.

“I am Endou Masouji, last pupil of Sano Arisue, Eldest of the Dancers and it is my honor to preside over this Dance.” Endou-sama said formally, folding his aged hands before him. He was considered a rarity indeed. An old assassin who had lived to retire.

The remnants of what he had been could still be seen, but his once prowess had faded, leaving only the memory of dancing with death. There were no regrets in his old, but still sharp eyes, only a deep wisdom. His long white beard gave testimony to his age belied by the ramrod straight back and the body control of a much younger man.

The Lover picked out the weaknesses on him easily though. Old injuries, aging joints, hands that were no longer strong enough to wield a sword in true combat.

This was why he presided over the Dances and left the battling to younger bodies.

Sano Arisue had been a child of Belarusia, though his last student was of Sei ancestry. That was how the tradition was handed down, generations later. Not enough of the Belarusian people were inclined to follow the Dark Lady’s path, so new students had to be taken from outside the motherland and taught to revere Her.

“O Lady of Blessed Night, I beg of You to carefully watch over Your children near and far on this eve and always guide us to perform Your will. On this night You have given us, I ask that You show who amongst Your sons and daughters should rise to the title of Master of the Dance of Death,” Endou-sama intoned over the group in the Koukan language. Many, like the Lover, murmured prayers of their own in the Belarusian tongue as it was meant to be spoken.

The Lady’s presence descended into the gathering as terrible and graceful as a falling star. Her wings brushed Her children’s souls, assuring that She was indeed there. It was a comfort, knowing that no matter how the night turned out, She was there to watch, and when the need came, gather.

Yes, it was time indeed.

“Will the challengers please step forth.”

A few moved at first to stand behind Endou-sama. 

More followed, though a few stayed still, choosing caution over the possibility of death later.

The Lover stood still until no one else moved to take the stage. Her shoes made no sound on the soft earth, but the remaining crowd parted around her instinctively. Her presence was honed so sharp it seemed that the air would bleed at her passing.

No one spoke a word.

She watched as the blond boy moved to take the stage, but his mentor stopped him with a firm hand and the shake of her head. She was older and would be one of the members that kept anyone from leaving after the Bloody Lover revealed herself. She knew the monster that had come hunting for blood that night.

Another pawn in the Master’s game.

The torchlight illuminated her sweet smile, but not her face and Endou shivered to see it.

_ Let the games begin _, the creature inside her howled with joy.

The first challenger announced himself in a deep, cold voice. It was the brutish looking man with the dirty hair who had brought all six of his students with him. Shijou Morifusa, last prodigy of Nakagawa Tomotsune, the Blue Reaper.

According to Endou, he was a hefty challenger for the title and many expected him to take it.

It will be a pleasure to send him to join his mentor in the Lady’s embrace, the Lover thought, her smile sharpening.

Others announced themselves, naming themselves and their Masters, some with embellished nicknames and some plain and unadorned.

All spoke until there was only the cloaked woman left unnamed and mysterious.

She said nothing, maneuvering yet another pawn into place.

“Who are you?” Shijou Morifusa called across the stage to her.

She took a deep breath and gave a last prayer before answering.

“My name is inconsequential,” she said clearly, and watched many of those who had witnessed her last Dance stiffen in alarm.

“In order to challenge for the title, you must name yourself.” The big man said menacingly.

The Bloody Lover’s smile was heartbreakingly sweet, “If you wish, I will name myself.” Her hand rose to the edges of her hood and pushed back till it fell, revealing her face and the flow of long blood red hair.

“When I first came here as a Priestess of the Dark Lady, I was known as the Bloody Lover and the Angel of Death, last pupil of Nagashima Hiro, the Viper King.” Astonishment spread across the faces of everyone in the gathering and a very young student came forward to catch her cloak as she untied it, revealing her exotic clothing and bone handled blades. “But since I was thirteen years old I have been known as the Master of the Dance and I’ve come from death to reclaim my title.”

The silence became deafening in the wake of her naming, turning to awestruck as many of the challengers bowed to her and walked off the stage. No one of Belarusian descent stayed to challenge her.

Several stayed though, including Shijou Morifusa, which thrilled the Lover down to her marrow.

Endou-sama bowed deeply to her.

“Whose challenge shall you accept first, Priestess?” He asked, another formality. It was like a play where everyone knew their parts, playing out like a drama to ensure that everything went as the Bloody Lover bid.

The red haired woman bound her hair on top of her skull in a tight bun and said the words that made her identity real.

“All of them.”

Murmurs broke out here and there.

Those that remembered confirmed it. Those were the exact words the Bloody Lover had given when asked who she wished to challenge five years ago. It _ was _ her!

Endou smiled in his beard and nodded in acknowledgment. “As you wish. Begin.” He called, ringing the ceremonial bell.

Then it all happened at once.

Blades were drawn, silent and efficient, and the Lady’s children began their worship.

It was the sweetest of homecomings.

The Bloody Lover did not pull her weapons yet, wanting to enjoy the show she was putting on. There had to be no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was a true master of the deadly arts. They needed to fear her.

They surrounded her, nine of them, excluding Shijou who stood back and watched her.

His death would be her reward after she dealt with the others.

She could see it in their eyes, the acceptance and almost longing, for the Lady’s embrace. By fighting her, they would show the Lady that they were worthy to be called Her children.

_ Pace yourself, little dragon. Remember your basics. _

It was like performing the Rigmar with a knife edge twist. She moved in a constant pattern, circles within circles. The circle of her guard, the circles of contact around her opponents, the circles her feet wove beneath her in perfect balance.

Ah, there it was. That feeling she had been missing since she fell from the cliff. The perfect balance of flesh and steel. The melting of body and soul into nothing but the Dance itself. The glorious fire that was the center of her whole being. Pain was nothing in that place.

This was who she was.

Her opponents were no slouches either. They were assassins and blessed by the Lady as well. They had received much of the same training as her with quirks that she had to anticipate. These were no mere hack and slash soldiers, these were artists with a blade like herself.

It was thrilling to pit herself against them once more.

They attacked as a group, hoping to throw her off balance or force her to desperation. They must have forgotten the stories about her.

She toyed with them, pushing and pulling them to where she wanted. They got in each other’s way, sometimes slicing a hand across from them or stepping on a foot and destroying the attack pattern.

It was all just another part in the Bloody Lover’s play, another step in the Dance.

When they backed away to regain their balance, the Lover smiled that wonderful, awful smile- and drew a dagger from her thigh. She took two steps into one of the men’s guard and shoved it between the fourth and fifth rib, putting a slight angle, slanted left to it to severe both ventricles in a single strike.

_ Perfect form, _ her Master murmured in her mind. It sounded so real that for a second it was like he was really there.

The assassin released his blade which clattered to the ground.

She looked into his hard hazel eyes, wide with shock and pain.

The Lover murmured a loving prayer, planting a kiss on his lips, then slid the dagger out of his chest and ran its razor edge across his throat, letting the red rain wash over her.

The man coughed a last plea to the Lady and fell to the ground smiling.

He had been kissed by the Angel of Death and she tasted of apples and blood.

Endou and the others in the crowd closed their eyes and called to the Lady of Blessed Night, who reached Her arms out and lovingly gathered Her son’s soul. The stars seemed to flare for a moment before returning to their vigil.

The bloodletting had only just begun.

The others attacked once more, galvanized by the joyous howling of the Lady in their hearts. 

It was a pleasure to fight and die at the hands of such an artist as the Angel of Death, who stowed her dagger and pulled her curved short swords from her lower back, baring her teeth in challenge.

Who would be next to taste her steel kiss?

The remaining challengers no longer fought as a group. It seemed one by one they stepped forward to dance with Death herself.

And one by one, they came to receive her kiss like a bloody sacrament before falling to the ground. They loved her for it, tasting apples and peace.

The bodies at her feet showcased various forms of execution, all exquisitely done.

The men and women present were in awe of her ability, even those who had witnessed her first Dance. Her skills over the years had improved, her controlled ferocity undiminished by her apparent demise.

No one else had ever kissed her victims before hand delivering them to the Lady. It was no wonder they called her the Bloody Lover. Perhaps she did love them all, just a tiny bit.

And she was merciful. Her strikes were quick and relatively painless. Her brave challengers did not suffer. The stars flared as each soul was gathered into the Dark Lady’s loving arms.

One by one, they all fell to her till only Shijou Morifusa stood against her, arms crossed and stone faced. She could read the smoldering resentment and distaste in his dark brown eyes.

He glanced at his students who all stared at her with challenge and heat in their eyes. They weren’t ready to face the Bloody Lover, but Shijou supposed that no one would be and his students were strong and chomping at the bit.

So when it seemed like the Angel of Death would lower her blades, he gave a subtle nod to his student’s. Lady be damned, he wouldn’t let a little eighteen year old girl become Master again. She was dead to the world already, might as well send her on her way sooner rather than later.

At his command, the six young men gripped their swords and charged onto the stage, encircling the blood covered woman.

Endou stepped up to reprimand Shijou for breaking the rules of the Dance, but the Bloody Lover silenced him with a look. She could feel their hunger beating against her senses, entwining with the latent power that lay in her lower belly, a gift and a curse from her savior, her masked man. It sharpened her hunger and she wanted to scream with joy and pain.

The largest of the students leered at her.

“I wonder what you would look like on your back with your legs tied apart. I wonder how loud you would _ scream _ for me.” He said, taunting and teasing with a hint of truth. He did wonder and because he wondered, the Bloody Lover threw mercy away as easily as an apple core.

She moved so fast.

A blade went through his right foot, pinning him to the stage. He howled in pain and outrage, swearing at her fiercely, but it was soon lost in the terrible sound of blade separating muscle, fat and bone.

“I wonder how you’ll scream,” she asked, purring.

His top half slid sideways, off his bottom half, falling to the blood soaked stage with a meaty thump.

He couldn’t stop screaming. Laying on his back, the young man tried to push his organs back into his abdomen, but they kept sliding out in a disgusting pile. She had severed his spine right above his hips, directly between two vertebrae. Even her Master would have been hard put to make a cut like that.

She yanked the dagger from his limp foot and smiled down on him.

His screams rose in volume and pitch until the Bloody Lover’s booted foot came down in a mighty stomp that crushed his skull in through his face.

Brains oozed from between shards of bone and the Bloody Lover wrinkled her nose in disgust. The stars did not flare for this one. The Lady rejected him.

The Lady rejected all of Shijou Morofusa’s students as they fell in various states of agony. One young man who had gazed far too long at the Lover’s breasts as they bounced with her movements, had his eyes gouged from his face while the Lover choked the life from him.

She cut off hands and legs, sliced tongues from mouths giving those faces wide bloody smiles from ear to ear. One man, already missing several limbs, she finally decapitated as she grew tired of his crying.

For all the disgusting cruelty, she was still so graceful, still so perfect in her destruction.

Finally, the Bloody Lover stood on a mountain of bodies, the stench of shit, blood, and offal in the air. Many of the crowd were on their knees, hands clasped in prayer.

She pointed her katana at Shijou Morofusa and condemned him.

“You are a disgrace to the Dance,” she said, her voice holding an echo of the divine.

Shijou spat at her, onto the bodies of one of his students. “Death’s Whore.”

The Bloody Lover chuckled, “More like sister than whore.”

The Lady of Blessed Night, arms full from holding Her Children, reached down and gripped Her daughter’s soul. Her Weapon.

_ Kill him _, She screamed.

“As the Lady commands, Her daughter obeys.” The Lover murmured in Belarusian before Shijou charged her, wild with fury and fear. His death would not be gentle.

The Angel of Death was nothing more than a conduit of her Lady’s power. The pain of her injuries evaporated as she completed her homage in the most brutal fashion she could imagine.

He was much taller than her which made everything simple.

It was easy to dodge his sword, batting it aside like a child’s toy.

It was easy to slice up his arms and legs like a filleted fish.

It was easy to slit his belly open just wide enough for her small hand to reach in.

The inside of his belly was hot and slippery, but the Bloody Lover had the fiercest grip as she pulled out his small intestines. With a quick step and a practiced flourish of her hand, she kicked Shijou Morofusa to his knees and looped the noose around his throat.

Eyes watched with horror and fascination as the Bloody Lover put her right foot in the man’s back and pushed forward while she pulled the noose of pinkish grey intestines tight.

Leaning off the stage on his knees, his guts pouring out of his slit belly to the ground below, Shijou groped at the slippery noose, his eyes bulging and mouth open. He could taste the death that hung in the air and his mind screamed at the atrocity of it.

He was being strangled with his own gut as he bled out.

“Bear witness to this last Dance! This last offering to our Lady of Blessed Night!” The Bloody Lover cried wildly, eyes shining with goddess-born madness.

Her grip began to slip so she wrapped the intestine around her wrist and pressed her foot harder into Shijou’s back. The man choked and gurgled, face turning purple, trying to find some air in his lungs.

He struggled hard against the impending darkness that came to claim him, but it was all too much and everything began to fade. All he had left was his regret. Regret that he had ever thought to challenge the evil creature that the Lady had sent down upon them.

_ Fuck that bitch, _ he thought, not sure if he was referring to the goddess or Her daughter.

When his body finally stopped twitching, the gathering grounds were once again silent.

She waited a moment more to be sure, then the Bloody Lover let the dead man’s body fall face first into the dirt. She knelt down and wiped her hands on his clothes and stood up, breathing heavily, covered in blood from the crown of her head down to her boots.

Then the remaining members of the Dance bowed deeply.

“_ Hail Lady, full of Grace, blessed be Thy name. We, Your children, thank You for bearing witness to Your worship and pray that those who fell honorably tonight will find solace and peace in Your embrace as You bear them gently away. _” The Bloody Lover intoned over the corpses of her challengers and her victims.

The assassins present felt Her smile in their souls and Her final caress before She ascended, carrying the souls of Her fallen children up and away to Her dark paradise.

A sigh went around the gathering and all eyes turned to look at the Angel of Death, who wiped all her blades clean and sheathed them in utter fluidity.

She looked to Endou-sama, who watched her carefully.

“Who am I?” She asked, her voice calm.

“The Lady had chosen. You are the Master of the Dance of Death, Priestess.” He said, folding his hands and bowing once more to her. No one said a word against it. No one could. They had all borne witness to a Dance that would always be remembered.

She nodded and looked out at the crowd.

“You,” she suddenly cried, pointed a bloody finger at the two brothers from Belarusia, “when people ask of me, what will you tell them?”

The two looked at each other, confused and slightly afraid.

“We will tell of a young woman of red hair and blue eyes that came and -”

“No,” she said sternly, “I have brown hair and green eyes.” The two brothers were now very confused.

“What about you?” She said pointing at a willowy woman from Xing Kingdom. She opened her mouth, then closed it, unsure of how to answer.

“You will say that I have blonde hair and brown eyes.”

Interested smiles grew on the faces around her.

She looked at the one handed woman who smiled wolfishly.

“You have black hair and jade green eyes.” The woman’s craggy voice was laced with undisguised glee. The Bloody Lover smiled in acknowledgment, alluding to her beloved Master.

Other’s began calling out random descriptions. Anything, but red hair and blue eyes. Some gave her skin dark as chocolate, hair that curled in tight corkscrews, on and on.

“Indeed, my brothers and sisters. Let us play a game with the minds of all the lands. I am everyone and no one. Let no one know exactly who I am and if those who wish to catch me try, let them chase an apparition while I hunt more exciting prey.”

Her predatory smile was matched by the remaining assassins who all thought this would be an interesting game to play.

“Now go and let us begin. We shall give them a chase to go down in the history books.” They all bowed and quietly exited the gathering area, as the ash men came to collect the bodies from the stage.

Only the boy with the pale blond hair remained, still transfixed by her.

The pain her her lower belly roared and she stepped off the stage towards him.

Endou-sama watched with amusement as the Master of the Dance approached the young man and whispered something in his ear.

Then she was gone, into the night, leaving only a patch of blood on the boy’s cheek.

The boy touched it wonderingly and gazed after her.

Endou sighed and directed the ash men in their collection.

Ah, to be young again.

* * *

Back in her room, the Lover washed the last of the blood from her body, allowing the servants to take away the brown water. Already her clothes were being treated and her bed was prepared.

Endou had not spared any expense for her, especially after the ordeal she had just put herself through. She wasn’t tired though. Just the opposite. Energy burned through her abused body mercilessly.

Clean and sore muscled, she laid down and allowed a silent masseuse to work some of the tension from her. All the servants, including this one, were paid well and quietly threatened to keep their silence.

The Master would be well taken care of, at least for the rest of the night.

She had ensured it.

When the discrete knock came, the masseuse quickly finished her work and left.

The young man was escorted into the dimly lit room where he stood half confident, half uncertain.

When she rose from her bed entirely naked, but for her talisman, she watched his lovely green eyes widen in appreciation for her lush body then he quickly looked away for fear of offending her.

She sauntered across the sumptuous carpet till she put a finger on his chin and forced him to look into her eyes.

“What is your name?” She asked, trailing a finger down the column of his neck.

“Miyake Naomoro, of the Tenshin Province.” The Lover nodded and smiled one of those unbearably sweet smiles.

“Are you afraid of me, Naomoro?” The boy’s brain seemed to have melted when he watched her move. “Yes, Lady.”

Her smile turned wicked, “Good.”

He lifted a hand and ran it through her now dry hair, marveling at the weight of it, at its softness. It was hard to believe that the human firestorm that had just slaughtered two dozen men in a show could be so soft. So sweet smelling. So desirable.

“What do you wish of me, Lady?”

Hypnotizing blue eyes locked with his. “Love me, Naomoro, for a few hours.”

His heart agreed immediately and she kissed his neck ever so carefully.

Lust unstrung out between them and he gripped her upper arms tightly.

His lips descended towards hers, wanting a taste of what those men had gotten before they died.

“What should I call you, my lady?” He breathed as she slipped his shirt from his shoulders.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling the power in her lower belly surge in anticipation as she pressed her whole body against his.

She whispered before their lips met and the world fell away in a storm of tangled flesh and pleasure.

“Don’t call me anything tonight but Master.”


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Morning came and she disappeared from Chishin as quickly as she could. Lingering would’ve been a mistake.

Kissing her sleeping boy one last time on the forehead, she vanished through the city and out the gates before even the rooster had awakened.

The young woman sighed in relief as she crossed into the wilds, one sack of gifts over her shoulder along with her travel pack, a steel wrapped bamboo staff and her new bow and quiver.

Peace washed over her.

She had done what she had set out to do.

She had won the Dance once more and had set the cogs in motion to keep her long game playing for as long as it took for the Princess to find her courage and take back the throne. She had kept them as safe as she could.

And she was healed.

The Lady of Blessed Night, in the moment of the final offering, had enveloped Her daughter’s body and made it whole once more. A flawed being couldn’t hold so much of the divine inside her so the Lady had cured Her daughter of those flaws.

It was truly a blessing to be able to run fast through the wilds to find where she had left her heart. To remember who she was without the pain and the fear dogging her steps.

It only took her a day and a night to follow their trail. They had gotten further than she expected and it took her a little longer to hunt them down.

All the while, her heart fluttered like a raven in her chest at the thought of her friends, her brothers, and her Princess… and someone else…

_ Stop it, foolish girl. Remember who and what you are. You can’t go around falling in love with everyone you meet. Not when it means getting distracted from the Princess. You can’t think of golden eyes that you could drown in and skillful, untrained hands… Lady help me... _

She rarely was distracted from the Princess in truth. Thoughts of Yona filled her mind almost constantly, their conversations and the feel of Yona’s cheek beneath her fingers. It was such a pity that she was a Princess instead of a Prince and that Hak had already most clearly staked a claim.

The red-haired assassin mentally shrugged. If Hak weren’t in the picture, despite Yona’s gender she still might have tried to move in on the Princess. Belarusians weren’t modest about love and lovemaking either.

It was actually considered a great blessing to love someone of your own sex. There had been one such couple in her own village, close friends of her Mother.

They were called Twice-Souled and there was no translation into any other language that could match the poignancy of such a coupling. Belarusians believed them to be one soul in two bodies and they were cherished.

While she loved and admired the female form, the male ignited the fire in her belly that had her seduction unfurling inside her like a golden flower.

Yes, her darling Princess wasn’t the only one who clouded her mind with dangerous thoughts.

_ Stop. It. _

“Yoon, that’s too much salt!”

“Hak, stop teasing Kija.”

“Look Shin-Ah, I’ve almost got this sequence down! She’s going to be so proud!”

“What did you call me, White Snake?”

“It is not too much salt!”

“_ Pukkyuu! _”

The sounds of home and hearth met her ears and her heart sped up.

She ducked around a tree and looked at their campsite, illuminated by a golden sunset with a fond smile on her face.

Hak and Kija were fighting while Yoon stirred a delicious smelling stew and Yona weaved through her Rigmar sequence as Shin-Ah looked on. Yona came to her resting position, smiling widely and her eyes sparkling with satisfaction. She had been working hard to master that part her teacher had given her.

The red haired woman grinned and called out, “That was good, but you were a little shaky on the transition.”

All eyes whipped to the slender figure in the trees.

“Naomi!” Yona called joyously.

Oh, how she had missed hearing Princess Yona call her name.

“Welcome back, sprite,” Hak said with a knowing smile, “how did it go?”

Naomi pushed away from the tree and flapped her hand at the large man. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll hear about it later.”

He laughed and leaned his hip against his glaive as Yona dashed forward and threw her arms around Naomi in an exuberant embrace.

“I missed you!” Yona cried from within the safe circle of Naomi’s strong arms.

Naomi chuckled and hugged Yona back fiercely. “I missed you too.”

She meant it with all her being. Leaving her Princess felt like she had ripped herself in half. As soon as Yona released her, Kija took her face in his hand, his right one hot against her cheek and began barraging her with questions and concerns.

“Yoon! She looks pale! And she is making a strange face! Are you hurt? When was the last time you ate? Yoon, we must feed her!”

The young man in question filled a bowl, and despite Naomi’s insistence that she was fine, sat her down near the fire and glared at her till she ate the whole bowl, meek as a kitten.

Once she had eaten, the group seemed to relax.

It had seemed that Yoon wasn’t the only one who had noticed that when something was wrong with the red haired assassin she would stop eating. The sight of an empty bowl meant that their assassin was okay.

Yona was quick to push everyone into line to perform the Rigmar. Even Yoon had gained confidence and fluidity as time had gone on and Kija, though still getting the hang of it, was happy to join in.

The one that surprised her though was Shin-Ah. She had only gotten through the first few sequences with him.

“Watch this, sprite.” Hak said grinning as they all bowed to her.

Yona had been right. She was extremely proud.

She had never thought to pass on her knowledge. Not like Shijou who had six students. Well, before the Dance anyways.

But Hak, Yona, Yoon, Kija, and Shin-Ah wove through the ancient forms of the Rigmar, concentration and peace on their faces.

No, she never thought to take an apprentice, but it would see she had gained five on accident.

They flowed into the final sequence in perfect synchronization, even Shin-Ah whom she hadn’t even taught half of the sequences yet. He performed with a grace that had her heart and brain stumbling.

When they came to the resting pose and bowed once more to her, Naomi let out an unexpected whoop and applauded.

Yona’s smile was like the sun, almost too bright to look at.

“Very impressive, all of you! You’re almost ready for the next sequence.” Yoon looked at her astonished. “How many sequences are there?!”

Naomi smiled, “Forty seven in the standard version and eighty six in the advanced.”

His astonishment was understandable. Each sequence took about a minute and a half to get through when done properly. Naomi remembered huffing and puffing through her first full Rigmar performance. It had taken her over two years of near constant practice to attain the rigid, but fluid perfection that her Master had demanded of her. Another year to master it as her own and give it her trademark ferocity.

Yoon laid down on the ground next to her. “I give up. There is no way I’d make it through forty seven of these things, let alone eighty six. We’re only up to seventeen and by the time I’m finished, I’m shaking and out of breath.”

Naomi leaned down and patted his cheek. “That is why we practice. You’ll see. In no time, ten sequences will seem a breeze. Then we can begin working on real fighting.”

The young healer glanced at her.

“I’m not a fighter though.”

The red haired woman smiled and pulled the bamboo staff from where she had set it down and laid it across her lap.

“You will be when I’m through with you.”

Yoon gulped audibly.

“Speaking of, I have gifts from Chishin. This one, Yoon, is one of yours.” She patted the steel reinforced staff. She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a slim leather bound book. “As is this. It is a collection of poetry from across the nations, including some from my homeland. I was surprised to see it in the bookshop and thought you and the others might like it.”

Yoon took it with reverence and ran his fingers along the cover.

“Which ones are from your homeland?”

Naomi smiled sadly as she rummaged in her gift sack, “You’ll know when you read them.”

She handed out the little gifts and trinkets she had picked up at the market, delighting in their pleased responses. Kija was enthused with the ivory bracelet carved like a white dragon with gleaming purple eyes.

Hak only looked at her with long suffering when she showed him the carved miniature of a crouching tiger roaring, but he still tucked it safely into his robe. She had something else to give him, but she would do it later when there were fewer eyes upon them.

For Yona, she had brought the deadly steel broadhead arrows 

“These are for you, dear one, but they are not for practice. These are for when you need to do maximum damage to your opponent as quickly as possible. As Hak and I can attest, these things are deadly and are difficult to yank out. They are heavier than your normal tipped arrows so you need to compensate for that in your angle. Use them well.” The assassin murmured to her Princess as she handed her the hard quiver.

Princess Yona pulled one of the arrows out and everyone gazed at it with respect.

The shaft was perfectly straight and made of two woods. A hard wood near the arrowhead and a softer wood for the rest of it. The hard wood reinforced the area more likely to break on impact while the soft wood made it light and flexible. The fletching was done out of hawk feathers, which Naomi knew to be lucky. The Princess would be hard put to miss with one of these arrows.

Finally, the arrow head. Streamline, elegant steel gleamed in the firelight, its edges honed sharp enough to make the air bleed as it flew. It was made to penetrate and lodge deep in its victim.

Hak looked like he didn’t know whether he approved or not.

Yona stowed the arrow carefully and thanked Naomi in a subdued voice.

To bring the group back to its earlier mood she quickly presented the thoughtful princess with another gift.

“Now this is a rarity. This was made by a jeweler that I once knew very well, although his works have been mostly taken for high-born treasure hoards.” She removed the pretty gold bracelet she had been most surprised to see in a little trinket stall.

A gem amongst near garbage.

“The flower is known in my tongue as-” Naomi said a lilting word so quickly that none of the others could catch all of the syllables, “But it translates close enough into Koukan as the Flower of Dawn.”

Yona’s eyes went soft as Naomi clasped it around her delicate wrist. Strong interlocking gold form the bracelet like a flexible cuff and the flower, as vibrant red as Yona’s hair, was etched into it with hints of green stems and leaves accenting it. Blooms and buds, full and lush as the real ones on a spring morning in the mountains.

“Oh, how lovely.” The Princess sighed, touching it gently.

_ Not near as lovely as you. _

Naomi didn’t say it, but her smile did.

Then, her eyes turned to the silent man crouching opposite to her.

She may not have been able to see his eyes, but she could read the set of his jaw like one of the poems in Yoon’s new book.

Did he really think she’d come back and not have a gift for him?

“This is for you, Shin-Ah.”

She pulled a plain black hardwood box, so similar to the one in her own bag and handed it to him. She felt a little foolish with everyone staring at her as Shin-Ah rose and came to stand next to her.

Hak’s eyes held an uncomfortable glint.

The masked man took the box and opened the lock deftly.

Inside the velvet lined case was a shakuhachi.

There was silence all around the fire.

He sat down beside her, pulled the two pieced instrument out and admired it in the firelight. It was patterned differently than her own and lighter in color.

He fit the two pieces together, lining up the patterning and settled his fingers on the holes. Wetting his lips, he set his bottom lip to the utaguchi and he blew across the hole.

A shrieking noise spat out and he immediately stopped blowing, blushing deeply.

Naomi smiled, took a finger and pushed the flute outward, putting it at an angle.

“Try again.”

Shin-Ah took a deep breath and tried again. This time a deep resonate note sang out into the twilight. Its voice was different from Naomi’s shakuhachi, but it was very fine and Naomi herself had played it to assure that it was in good form.

There was a smattering of applause as Shin-Ah played a basic scale and then laid the flute in his lap. A wide smile crossed his face for a moment, showing his strong white teeth and the fangs that characterized the Four Dragons.

“Thank you, Naomi.” He said quietly and she bowed her head.

“You are very welcome, Shin-Ah.”

The masked man deftly replaced the two pieces of the instrument back into the hard case, but didn’t stow it away. He held it in his lap and stroked the wood in wonder.

Naomi hadn’t realized that no one had ever thought to give him a tangible gift. Something for him to keep. Something that was his and his alone. Till Yona had given him a name, he’d had… nothing. Everything he had, he’d merely inherited when Ao died.

Now, he had so much and he felt so grateful he thought his heart would explode.

“Come on. It’s time for bed. I don’t know about you all, but I’ve had a very long couple of days and I would like some sleep.”

She stood gracefully, no hesitation in her movements and Hak caught her eye and he jerked his chin towards the thicket away from the fire.

She nodded slightly and then helped prepare the camp for sleep.

Only when the fire was doused, the tent erected and everyone settled into sleep did Naomi slip into the darkness of the trees to find her brother by choice.

He stood not too far away, looking broodingly back at their little camp.

Hak didn’t even flinch when she materialized, it seemed, from thin air.

“Hey, sprite. Living up to your name as usual.” Naomi chuckled as she came to stand by him. “I missed you too, Raijuu.”

The big man glanced down, happy to see the red haired woman looking more normal. Like she had before. “So things went well, I take it?”

She nodded, a pleased smile creeping across her face. The smile of a cat who’d gotten her cream and a brace of trout to boot.

“Yes, all went well and I’ve played my gamble. Now, we’ll see who is better at playing games. Me or the King.” The big man’s face darkened at the mention of his childhood friend. Naomi kept her face expressionless to hide the fondness inside her for the clever, young King whom she missed dearly.

Changing the subject, she smiled up at him, “I was pleased with what you accomplished with the Rigmar. I certainly wasn’t expecting that after only four days.”

She held it out like a bait for the man, hoping he’d take it and let go of the darkness again for a moment.

He took it, huffing out a laugh.

“Most of it was her. She was the one who pushed everyone into practicing together so that we could show off when you came back.” Hearing that, the sharpness of her pleased smile eased into something softer. There was a quiet pride there.

“Even Shin-Ah, who barely grasped the basics. He was so determined to catch up that it seemed every hour he was practicing those damn forms. Yona and I took turns teaching him. He’s a quick study, you know, especially when he’s got someone he is trying to impress.”

The heavy insinuation hit Naomi in the face like a board.

“Bah! What are you- I mean come on, Raijuu, that’s-”

As she continued to stutter, a very wide mischievous smile spread across Hak’s face. _ Gotcha, sprite, dead center. _

She cleared her throat, “I’m sure I have no idea what you are talking about, General Hak.” She gave him a side eyed glance that told him that she would knife him for this somehow.

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t, Naomi. But I know exactly what I’m talking about,” he chuckled. Man, he’d always wanted to tease a sister like this.

The little redhead mimed a punch at him. Two could play at this game.

“Did I mention I got you another gift?” She said with an impish grin, reaching into one of the pouches buckled to her thigh. He looked at her with confusion, then terror as she pulled out a little black box.

“They were a set, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. Hopefully, you’ll know how to use it properly when the time comes.”

Before he could say anything, Naomi flipped the lid on the box, revealing something that nearly stopped Hak’s heart.

It was a match set for the bracelet that now adorned Yona’s right wrist. Gold and red with the barest accent of green. It seemed made for the Princess’ finger and Hak knew with all certainty that Naomi had ensured that it was sized just right.

A ring.

A clean design of gold, strong yet delicate to encircle a small finger, with a ruby exquisitely cut to look like one of those flowers, a Flower of Dawn as Naomi called it, as the centerpiece.

Hak’s brain felt like it was fading in and out and his stomach felt like she had just roundhouse kicked him across the continent. Naomi wasn’t one to pull her punches.

She snapped the lid closed and tucked the box into the inner pocket of his robe with the carving she had gifted him, “You’re welcome.”

When he remembered how to breathe again, he stared at Naomi who crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow in that infuriating manner. His hand tightened on the staff of his glaive then slackened.

“Alright, sprite. You win. I’ll leave it alone. Just… don’t do something like that again.”

Naomi’s expression faltered and fell into uncertainty. Maybe she had gone too far?

“Can you tell me why though?” He asked faintly.

Nervously, she slipped an arm around his waist and looked up.

“Maybe because I’m rooting for you? Because I can see your heart and I’m on your side? I’ve seen it since I first saw you in the woods with her and I want to believe that we can get such things… that we deserve a chance.”

His arm went around her slight shoulders.

They stood like that, leaning on each other, feeling too old and weary to measure.

“I don’t think I’ve got that chance, sprite… but I think you may. Who knows? Maybe I’m rooting for you too.” Naomi chuckled mirthlessly and leaned her head against the Thunder Beast’s strong chest. “Why him though? I don’t quite understand it.”

The little redhead shrugged. “I don’t really understand it myself. Maybe it’s because he saved me from the tomb. Maybe it’s because he reminds me so much of me when I was younger before I lost my Master… I think it’s because, despite everything, he understands me better than most people. It feels nice… makes me feel… happy.” She shrugged again. “I don’t know. It just is.”

Hak nodded, understand that too. It made no sense, but it just was. He could empathize with that.

“I know it’s not wise or even probably possible because of the situation we are in. But the more I try and tell myself to forget the whole thing, the louder those bells get and the more I feel it.” Hak looked down, half confused by what she said and half confused by what she meant.

“How does the situation make it impossible?”

Naomi sighed, not sure if she was smart to even be discussing it out loud.

“Because we both have a commitment to _ her _. We can’t afford distractions to that commitment… including each other.” Just saying it made her feel a little sick.

Hak sighed, seeing her point, but also the way it seemed to twist her up inside. Something that resonated deeply with him. Putting duty before your own personal feelings, no matter the cost to yourself.

They had both seen things, terrible things. She probably more than me, Hak thought, looking at what seemed to be his soul sister. His equal, his match in everything. They were so alike and he couldn’t help but want her to have the things that he couldn’t.

“Look, _ aneki _, I can’t tell you what to do in this situation. I can tell you though, that I don’t think you should give up on your chance. If he makes you happy… take the happiness while you can. If you don’t give up on it, then neither will I. Deal?”

Naomi’s eyes sparkled when she looked up at him. She put a hand on his left cheek and raised on her tiptoes to press a quick kiss to his right cheek. “You’ve got a deal, _ aniki _.”

There was a rustle in the thicket that they both started at, but it was only Ao, cute and fluffy, looking at his strange humans.

“It’s bedtime, Raijuu. I’ll see you in the morning.” She ruffled his unruly black hair and watched him trot back to the camp to take up his position sleeping upright against the closest tree, instantly passing out. Kija was already asleep. He’d come far since he’d left his village.

Yona and Yoon were asleep in the tent.

She was missing only one body from the scene.

Naomi heard bells in her soul then blushed and smiled. She turned in time to see him step into the moonlight with a slight smile on his face in response to hers.

She strode over to him and they slipped back into the shadow of the trees. The darkness was velvety soft on her skin, as comforting as the bone handles of her blades.

He was close enough that even in the dark, she could make out the features of his mask. Close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his body. She could remember what it felt like to be wrapped up in that warmth.

“Heyya, Shin-Ah.” She murmured.

_ You promised. _

She didn’t say it, but he heard it and with the slightest hesitation, he took the mask from his face and dropped it on the ground.

Yes, that was what she had been missing.

Naomoro had been handsome and quite skilled, but even in the midst of pleasure, she’d known something was missing. _ His eyes aren’t gold, his eyes aren’t gold, his eyes aren’t gold _, she had thought.

He ran his hands up her arms, knowing the strength of them despite their slimness, onto shoulders that seemed to bear the weight of the world like a pair of wings. Then he cupped her face with his fingers, the face that he’d caught himself searching for time and time again over those last four days, a beautiful face that he’d yearned to see again outside of his dreams.

He rested his forehead against hers as her hands slid up his chest and up to his face to mirror his. Their eyes locked and they seemed to breathe together, heartbeats synced.

_ I missed you. I’m so glad you’re back safe. Thank you for coming back. _

_ I missed you too. I am here. _

They stood like that for a while, speaking without words, just understanding each other in the silence, in the darkness.

Unsurprisingly after a while, Naomi began to wonder what his mouth would feel like against hers. That was when she eased away and smiled at him.

Was it her imagination or did she see the same curiosity in his eyes?

“Sleep well, Shin-Ah. I’ll see you in the morning.” She whispered, savoring the way he ran his thumb over her cheekbone before he picked up his mask and went to the tree with Hak and Kija. She imagined she could still feel his touch when she crept inside the tent to check on the youngest two of their party.

Yoon was already fast asleep, but the Princess whispered Naomi’s name as she made a move to head to the tree.

“What is it?” The shadow whispered to the Princess, leaning over her to brush away the hair from her pale delicate face. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

Naomi smiled sweetly and began taking off her weapons to sleep. How could she refuse such a request?

She spread her cloak out on the ground next to Yona’s bedding, blades within arms reach and then settled down for the night. As soon as she propped her head on her hand, Yona rolled over to face her with a slight smile on her face.

“Thank you,” she whispered, reaching her hand out to touch Naomi’s blood red hair that looked black in the dark.

“No need to thank me, sweet girl. Anything to help you sleep.”

The assassin scooted herself closer to the other girl, close enough to feel Yona’s breath roll gently across her face.

“Naomi? You went and did something dangerous in Chishin, didn’t you? Hak wouldn’t tell me, but his face said it. He was worried. We all were.” The Princess whispered. Naomi could imagine those intense amethyst eyes gazing at her, boring holes in her armor. Naomi smiled and scooted even closer.

“It would only have been dangerous if I’d lost, which I didn’t, so it was perfectly safe.” Naomi put an arm over Yona’s waist and the Princess curled into her, enjoying the warmth that seemed to emanate from the red haired assassin.

“You and Hak are so alike,” Yona whispered with an odd tone to her voice, “So fierce and fearless... I wish I were more like you.”

The two women seemed to tangle together, cuddling close.

“Hak and I have gotten close since you brought us together and it’s true, we are very alike. But as to wanting to be more like us, I’ll tell you that I had a little sister and since I’d first met you, I’ve always thought that I hope she grew up to be just like you. She’d be about your age now.” Naomi said, accepting the heart wrenching pain that accompanied the words. 

She’d missed so much since that night eleven years ago.

“I didn’t know that… what was her name?” Yona whispered back, feeling a deep sorrow for her friend. She knew the pain of a lost family, all too well.

“... Her name was… is Natsuko. The summer child.”

Even Yona could hear the pain and longing in Naomi’s accent ridden words._ Her accent becomes stronger when she is thinking of her home… I wonder if she even knows that _, Yona thought, adding the knowledge to the little box in her mind for her mysterious companion.

Yona suddenly tightened her arm around Naomi’s shoulders, pressing her face into the other woman’s neck.

“I always wanted a sister.”

Naomi felt tears pool in her eyes, but blinked them away before her precious girl noticed them.

“Well, now you have one.” She kissed Yona’s temple firmly and sniffed away her tears. “I’ll be your older sister. We’ll be each other’s family.”

Yona was shaking, trying hard not to cry.

“That means you ask me anything and I’ll tell you the truth, tell me anything and trust that your secrets will be safe with me and know that come what may, I will fight at your side. Deal?” Naomi clung desperately to this young woman who had changed her life so much and had come to mean the world to her.

Princess Yona nodded, “Yeah… deal.”

Naomi chuckled and used her sleeve to wipe away the tears that had spilled over from her new little sister’s eyes. They laid the heads back down and both loosened their hold on each other. For a while, they laid there and breathed, tangled together like two puppies.

“Hey, Onee-chan…”

Naomi started when she heard the affectation Yona used. The Princess herself smiled shyly, “Just thought I’d try it out.”

The red haired assassin nuzzled her Princess’ face, telling her tear ducts to stop playing games with her. “I like it. You can call me whatever you’d like. It makes me happy, little sister.”

Yona was quiet for another moment, thinking carefully.

“I can tell you anything right?” Naomi made an agreeing noise, resting her forehead against Yona’s, enjoying the feeling of being with her. “I can tell you about my dreams and you won’t tell anything, not even to Hak?”

Naomi grinned, “Yes, I promise. You can tell me anything and the boys will not find out anything from me.” 

_ Although, if you say anything about Hak, I’m going to tease him for it mercilessly _, Naomi thought with sleepy glee.

But Yona didn’t feel like she was about to spill some absurd girlish fantasy about the Thunder Beast. Her body had gone totally still as if she were afraid to breathe. Naomi cuddled the Princess closer, waiting for the words to come.

“I know… that it seems so weak of me… it’s been so long since that night. But sometimes when I try to sleep… all I see is… my Father, my kind Father… sliding off the end of Soo-won’s sword…”

_ Oh… Oh, my sweet girl… _

“It’s so terrible that my brain freezes up thinking about it. Soo-won… I’ve loved him since we were children… and… he _ killed _ my Father, he wanted to _ kill me _!... How could he do that? If Hak hadn’t been there, he would have killed me in the courtyard. He said… that the Soo-won that I love… who I thought loved me… never existed. How could he have never existed? Why did this happen and why can’t I stop dreaming about seeing all of you die?”

Naomi stroked the Princess’ hair comfortingly, heart aching with a love so terrible that she would die for it. She would kill even her precious young King for this love.

Yona went on and told her everything. She’d heard this story from Soo-won, but hearing it from the Princess’ point of view made hate and love war in her chest. She knew that she could easily come to hate him for the atrocities he committed against her most precious person.

But as it were, love is not so easily dampened.

Neither of them could let go of that lingering feeling for that clever, sweet bastard of a King.

Yona wished to be more like Naomi, but she had no idea how alike she really was. Naomi was floored by the fortitude shown by a young Princess who had once been so ignorant and fragile.

Strength isn’t always measured by mastery at arms or fighting prowess. Sometimes it is measured in how you persist even in hardship and grow in response to it. How you endure.

_ That is our strength _ , Naomi thought, humming quietly as her new little sister purged to pain from her mind. _ This little group of misfits, bound by a little Princess trying to survive, is so strong not because of the Gods’ blessings or the ability to cut down an army single handedly. We are strong because no matter how dark the future gets, no matter the fear or pain, we will endure _.

It made her think of another promise, given a lifetime ago, and another strong girl layed low.

“Do not fear to sleep, little sister, my sweet Princess. I am here to chase away the nightmares of blood and terror. We will not die.”

Naomi laid her head down, tangled in body and soul with the deposed Princess Yona of Kouka Kingdom, daughter of the murdered kindly King Il. Somewhere she never in a thousand years imagined she would be. The Lady’s will is a mysterious thing.

“We will endure, my heart.”

* * *

Days of hard travel passed with ease and no little joy. 

Bright daylight shined upon them on the day that they reached the sea.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The port city of Awa in the Earth Tribe Province, lay sprawling before them as they stood on the cliffside. As always, the sight of the sea made Naomi smile to hide the sickness in her belly.

“Nee-chan, is that the ocean? It looks so beautiful! I’ve never seen it before!” Yona called, staring excitedly at the blue-green waters that danced against the shore.

Naomi smiled to see the four awestruck faces of her sheltered companions.

Yona had never seen the sea since she had never left Hiryuu Castle. Kija for the same reason with his village. Yoon had been with Ik-soo since childhood and well, Shin-Ah had been locked in a cave most of his life so all of this was new for him.

I suppose it is pretty, seeing it for the first time, Naomi thought feeling the wonder of seeing it with fresh eyes roll through her. She had seen the sea many times and its effect had worn off on her long ago.

Not only that, but there was a secret that Naomi kept from the world having to do with the ocean. An embarrassing secret, unbecoming of a confident woman like her.

Hak stared at the port city with the same eyes as Naomi, “Never thought I’d come here again.”

The redheaded woman cocked her head curiously at her large brother.

“You’ve been here before, aniki?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, “My Grandpa brought me here a long time ago.” Hak smiled slightly at the memory and looked at Naomi. “When were you here?”

She started counting on her fingers. “Two? No, three years ago maybe? Hard to remember. I was traveling a lot around that time.”

Hak asked the reason for her visit and her smile told him all that he needed to know.

The Bloody Lover had come to Awa Port to hunt.

He wondered if she would again now that she was back.

“Kija, does it feel like Ryokuryuu is here?” Yona turned to the man in white who looked slightly frustrated.

“Well… I sense him but, Rykoruyuu’s presence keeps shifting around everywhere… I feel dizzy just following it.” Kija swayed and Naomi dashed behind him before he could actually fall.

“Easy there, Kija. Don’t get dirty again, I just cleaned your robe.” She said, standing him up again carefully.

“Thank you, aneki. You know, I forget sometimes that you are very strong despite your size.” The handsome pale man said patting Naomi on the head with a bright smile.

Naomi’s eyes flashed and quick as a snake, she had Kija’s wrist in a painful lock. Kija squeaked and backtracked as she wrestled him into a submission hold.

“Take it back.”

“Take what back?”

“The size comment.”

“Never! You are small!”

“Take it back.”

“Tiny!”

“I will make you eat dirt, Lord Hakuryuu.”

“Vertically challenged!”

“Now, I’m going to put bugs in your bedding.”

“Itty-bitty!”

“Oi, quiet down. Sheesh, you’re loud, Kija.” Yoon called when he finished talking to Hak. Shin-Ah had his back to the two in question, trying to hide his laughter. This playful side of Naomi had only been showing since she came back from Chishin, but the group found it quite entertaining and endearing. And if there was one way they had learned to rile Naomi up, it was to comment on her height. Yona, always quick to pipe up and remind the taller beasts that they were averaged sized for women in the middle kingdom and it wasn't their fault that they were swollen with ego. Hak laughed rudely. 

A hand came down on Shin-Ah’s shoulder, fingers digging into his flesh. Yona responded with a swat.

“Do I hear laughter? I hope someone isn’t laughing at me or else they might find themselves on their knees in a hurry. Then we’ll see who’s short.” Naomi growled playfully.

Shin-Ah tried to straighten his face as he turned around, but couldn’t keep away the little grin. Naomi had one on her face to match.

Yoon sighed and smiled lovingly at his darling women. He enjoyed seeing them like this. Naomi had finally learned how to be a part of the group instead of hiding in the trees and Yona’s eyes had seemed a bit less haunted of late.

He enjoyed seeing Naomi with a wry grin on her face and her hands on her hips in mock, or real, dismay.

_ Although for her reputation, she is rather short statured _ , he thought secretly, smiling to himself.

“While I want to search for Ryokuryuu, we need to rest from our journey. I want to stock up on supplies and food while we’re here.” He said out loud.

Yona and Kija began to wiggle excitedly with Shin-Ah on the side looking mildly confused but going along with the other two. “Okay! Let’s go to the port city!” Yona said.

A red haired Princess, a man with a dragon hand and a suspicious looking masked man...

_ Oh yeah, we’re clearly inconspicuous and can blend in with the crowd _, Naomi thought as Yoon shut the happy bunch down.

And while she no longer had to be as concerned with showing her face, caution was ingrained in her nature. She had to be careful not to give away her game. In the weeks since the Dance, tales of the new Master of the Dance had spread throughout the Underground, each tale different than the last, but all agreed that this Master was deadlier than the last and crossing her would not be wise if you wanted to keep your guts where they were inside you.

New names had already been handed out. The Gut Hangman. Yami the Ripper. Death’s Sister or Death’s Whore, depending on who told the tale.

“I’ll go. I wanted to look at weapons anyways and I think I still remember my way around. Naomi can go with me.” Hak said, nodding at her. She shrugged and began to speak when Yona cut over.

“Hak, I want to go, too.”

He looked at Naomi and she shook her head. Not yet, at least. She needed to go in and check the city before the Princess entered. It would be too easy to trap them in the city with nowhere to go, but into the sea if someone were to realize that Princess Yona had fled there.

Her underground contacts would be able to tell her if it was safe to move about in the city.

Hak breathed in and sighed before looking at his Princess.

“Princess, you’ve become awfully ugly lately.”

Naomi knew what he was doing, but it didn’t stop her from giving him a nice punch in the kidney as she slid past him. Kija was quick to defend Yona, who looked quite chagrined.

“You have dark circles under your eyes and your hands are hurt,” He put a hand on her head, “You’ve worked too hard. Relax a bit.”

My little sister must be blind and deaf not to see his heart, she thought, rummaging in her bag for some money. 

Hak raised his eyebrow questioningly when she dropped the coins into his hand, “I want apples since you’re doing the shopping. I’m going to skulk around and see if any of my… friends are in town.” She said smiling sharply. Throwing her cloak around her shoulders, she pulled the hood up and hid herself in the fabric.

“Naomi-nee, stay out of trouble, please?” Yoon called and she laughed brightly. “Me? Trouble? Never.” The smile she cast over her shoulder before trotting away made Yoon want to groan.

Every time she had come back from a village or a city, she always came back with bloody knuckles and a scary smile that made the men of the group very nervous. After all, she had a reputation to uphold did she not?

That’s what she told them.

As she made her way down, her pack bouncing between her shoulder blades, only once did she glance back. She always did before she left. Something about it made her happy, seeing them all together, arguing and laughing. It was almost as good as coming back.

_ Now, to find somewhere to lay low till my people come out of the gutters _, she thought with a savage grin. She slid into the city like a leviathan into its cave, waiting for the bottom feeders to gather. 

* * *

“Lady… this is not a good place for you to be.” The brother said quietly over his cup of sake. His sister kept her roving eyes on the rest of the bar, tense and ready for trouble.

“Do tell, Yamiyo. I need to know everything about this wretched little port.” Naomi whispered, sipping her own drink carefully.

These two were from Belarusia, but they were Kai through and through. Their province had been destroyed over the generations and they themselves had been tithed as children. It was a pity and a blessing that the sister, Ayako, wasn’t pretty. They were sold as slaves in the lowest of houses. It still surprised Naomi that they had managed to stay together through all the years.

Bounty Hunters like them were not exactly uncommon, but they were good at their jobs and they eked out a living where they could.

And Naomi knew this place wasn’t safe. She had seen it in the eyes of the citizens. Although on the outside the port seemed lively, there was a rotten feeling in the air. A deadness that seemed to rise up from the ground and infect the people.

She’d seen the officials of Awa, the so called ‘soldiers’ that were supposed to defend the city and keep the peace, abusing those people that got in their way. Especially the women.

The name she kept hearing… Yang Kum-ji. It sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place where.

Something was here. She just needed to know what.

The brother and sister talked off and on as Naomi carefully monitored the activity in the seedy bar.

There were many people, some of them had been there since early afternoon, which was always an indication of a problem. Men drinking so early suggested that there was something they were running away from, to the bottom of a bottle.

“Lady there is a massive bounty on your head. While no one may know what you look like, thank all the Gods, it’s still dangerous to linger here too long. Between the pirates, the Empire and Yang Kum-ji himself, Awa is a powder keg waiting to ignite,” Yamiyo whispered with anxiety lacing his voice, “Ayako and I are leaving coming dawn and heading towards Sei. We’ll spread the word that the Master is headed for Xing Kingdom which should throw off the trail.”

Naomi gave her ascent and nodded.

“I’m grateful for your assistance you two. Send word if you need anything.”

Naomi went to rise, but Ayako grabbed her arm and lowered her back into the chair.

“Don’t leave.” The girl’s sharp eyes gave Naomi pause. There was a message there.

“Stay in the room we purchased for the night. We’ll find other accommodations.”

Her voice was tense and Naomi looked for the source of the girl’s fear and spotted it.

Two men near the door quickly glanced away when the hooded woman’s head swung towards them. Another at the bar, turned back to his drink, sweat glistening on the back of his neck.

“They’ve been watching us since we arrived.” Ayako said leaning over the table. “Watching you, Lady.”

Naomi felt a hunger stir inside her. Not for sex, but for blood and pain.

“I see. I’ll take the room, but,” Naomi slid a grey pouch of coins across the table, “for your troubles and your silence. Good luck on your journey.”

Yamiyo palmed the pouch deftly, “Thank you, Lady. May all the Gods watch over you and the Lady guard your back.” 

Naomi’s smile was sweet, but the look in her eyes could stop someone’s heart.

“She always does. Go.”

The two bounty hunters stood and left out the backdoor and Naomi finished her liquor before standing and stretching.

She left the edges of her cloak fall back, revealing her body. It was a calculated risk, but she saw the stares and knew. She always knew.

If they came for her, she would slaughter them. But if they valued their lives, they would stay away. She wouldn’t hunt for them… at least, not yet. She needed to keep a low profile for now. There was possibly much bigger prey for her to hunt should she feel inclined.

She ascended the stairs above the bar and went to the room the bounty hunters had provided.

It was well furnished and clean. It surprised the red haired assassin, but she settled in, tucking her blades where she could get to them.

Then she knelt in the middle of the room in that perfect pose she had been taught long ago, holding her Lady’s talisman between her warm palms.

And Naomi prayed.

_ “Hail Lady, full of Grace, hearken to thy daughter’s call…” _

She intoned verse after long memorized verse from the Book of Night and prayed for direction and guidance.

Things were good now. Comfortable. She had settled into a good place with her new family. Yet, Naomi didn’t trust it to last. The good times always came before a storm. So where was the next storm coming from? Should they leave as soon as possible? Should she cleanse the town beforehand? If she chose that route, things would get complicated quickly with all the time it would take. Where in the name of all the Gods was Ryokuryuu? Why hadn’t he revealed himself yet?

She begged the Lady for wisdom.

_ Patience. _

“Patience is not my strong suit, Lady. You made me that way,” Naomi said cheekily, interpreting the Lady of Blessed Night’s command. The swift reprimand Naomi received for her insolence left her shaking.

“Yes, Lady. Patience. I will try.” She said grudgingly. It felt too much like her own mother’s scoldings when Naomi had been a child.

She blamed it on the city.

It was very much like the port cities she had been to as a child in the Kaitai Empire.

Sighing, she completed her prayer and looked out the window to the moon.

They would probably be worried by now since she hadn’t come back, but there was no way she could risk leading men back to their camp.

Laying down, she sighed. It was nice to have a real bed for once. It was quite comfortable. She couldn’t understand why even hours later, she couldn’t sleep. It frustrated her to no end till she finally growled and sat up, hair wild about her head from tossing and turning. Muttering under her breath in her own language about the shame of a lone wolf becoming lonely, she barely heard her door squeak open.

Turning she saw a large rough looking man standing in the doorway, smiling.

Calmness eased in her soul as she slid her hand underneath her pillow and gripped a dagger hilt. She sighed and smiled.

“Just what I needed.”

* * *

Morning came and Naomi respectfully took care of the body she had made last night by tossing the pieces of it into the ocean.

Breathing a sigh of delight she wandered back into town, hoping that the others hadn’t worried about her too much. She really didn’t want Yoon to scold her.

At the market, she resupplied her stores of food and medicines, listening to the gossip float around her. Apparently, the pirates had sunk another of Lord Yang Kum-ji’s ships in the night and the officials were all on a rampage because of that.

_ I’d better stay out of their way then. Wouldn’t want to cause a scene… _

She passed by the wanted stand and felt her mouth fall open in shock.

On a wanted poster was a poorly rendered drawing of Hak’s angry face. His nose was massive and so was his mouth. They had made his eyes too narrow and his eyebrows thick and angled down comically. 

_ Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh… _

Everyone turned to look at the short hooded figure as bright, containable laughter filled the air around her. Every time she thought she was done laughing she would look again and it would bubble up from her belly once more.

“Aniki, oh, Hak what did you do?” She laughed, taking the poster down and tucking it in one of her hip pouches. She would never let him live this down.

She was turning to leave when she heard a familiar voice ringing out.

“What the hell are you planning to do to me in a place where no one else is around?!!”

She peeked around the stand and saw the beast in question trying to escape the man that was wrapped around his waist. She stepped around the stand and leaned against it to watch.

Hak punched the man in the face, laying him out flat.

_ Oh Raijuu, that may have been a little too hard… _

Naomi assumed the man was unconscious when he stood up like a flopped over backwards doll.

_ Creepy. _

Whatever expression was on his face made the mighty thunder beast blanch. Then he

caught sight of his adopted sister, leaning casually at the wanted stand, arms crossed and hood up.

“Naomi!” He called and she waved back to him with her fingers.

The green haired man took a step forward, hands flexing toward Hak.

“Aneki! Save me! He’s a pervert!”

Naomi snorted and pushed away from the stand. “Poor aniki, getting molested in public by a suspicious stranger.” Giggles bubbled on her lips at the situation.

Seeing no help from her barely contained laughter, Hak dashed away, leaving Naomi with the tall man dressed in Kaitai fashion.

She looked up and smiled, “I’ve never seen him so frightened before. Thank you for letting me see that.”

He had an aristocratic face, bleeding nose, and a smug smile, matched by the strange look in his light purplish blue eyes. 

He looked down at her face, then was instantly distracted by the full cleavage that Naomi’s shirt couldn’t cover.

“Lovely view, miss. Do you know-”

Naomi gasped and her mouth turned into a disgusted grimace and she throat punched him elegantly. “You _are_ a pervert.” She said as she followed Hak, hips swinging in feminine display.

She found Hak standing with Yoon and Yona and Ao the squirrel.

Kija dashed by her. “Hello, Naomi-nee! We missed you last night!” The pale man dashed around a corner leaving Naomi with one hand raised in greeting and very confused.

“Onee-chan!” Yona called waving her over.

Naomi smiled, but was worried. Yona shouldn’t be in this town. It wasn’t safe.

_ Patience, my Daughter. _

Naomi internally groaned, but went to greet them and allowed the interrogation of her whereabouts to begin.

They walked and spoke about the village, Yona recounting seeing the official in the shop and finding Hak in the red light district during the day which Naomi teased Hak about along with his terrible rendering on his wanted poster.

He ripped up his poster everywhere they saw it.

“Hey, this is the guy that I throat punched and that wanted to do dirty things to Hak!” Naomi said, seeing another wanted board. They seemed to be everywhere in the city with Hak and the pervert’s face plastered on them.

“You punched him?” Hak asked, ripping up his poster red faced after Naomi’s teasing.

“In the throat. I should have made it harder for him to have children, but the throat was faster.” She said, shrugging and munching on an apple that Hak had purchased for her.

“I want to meet him.” Yona said, cocking her head at the poster. It was just as badly rendered as Hak’s. She’d only seen him once, but the man was quite striking in his own fashion.

“I’d prefer never having to deal with him again.” Hak said, casting a wondering eye at Naomi as she tore down the poster of the man, folded it and tucked it into one of her pouches.

Still chewing her apple, she winked at him.

Yona saw it and looked very thoughtful when she heard a quiet sob from inside a wrecked building.

“That’s the store from earlier.” Hak said for Naomi’s benefit. Yona, with that terrifying determination in her eyes, ran towards the building before her red haired sister could stop her.

“Yona, hold on. Be care-” Naomi stepped inside the broken restaurant, “...ful.”

She could have sworn she saw this place yesterday while she was slunking through the city, looking for contacts. It had been one of the nicer establishments she had seen.

Looking at it, Naomi was shocked that so much damage could be done to it in such a short time. The wall hangings were torn, windows and furniture broken, pottery smashed and food was scattered all over, fit to feed the rats.

And in the center of the destroyed room were weeping parents, the mother holding a bloodied little boy in her arms.

He was so young that in a flash of heat, Naomi saw young Tae-yeon in his place and felt sick to her stomach. How had this been allowed to happen?

“... He won’t move.” The father said, his voice rough from crying and yelling, his face also beaten badly. “He hit the officer back. They hit him and now… he won’t move.”

Yoon, with Ao balancing on his shoulder, went and kneeled down near the mother and Naomi crouched on her other side, laying one calloused hand against the boy’s forehead. Yoon checked for a pulse then looked into Naomi’s deep eyes and shook his head.

The boy was dead.

Yoon saw sorrow in those eyes and what looked like a glimmer of glimmer of anguish that too ancient for her youthful face.

In her native tongue, she crooned the hated liturgy only used when a child had passed too soon from this world. It sounded like a haunting lullaby and the mother began to weep anew even though she couldn’t understand the words.

Naomi prayed that the Gods took special care with this young soul when they took him took paradise. He had been brave to stand up to the officer and she knew that that bravery would be rewarded.

“Hak… what… can we do? What can we do to help these people?” Yona asked, one shaking hand holding onto the big man’s sleeve and tears in her voice.

“Yona… we don’t have the power to do anything right now.” Yoon said softly, watching Naomi stroke the boy’s hair despite the blood that stained her skin. Though cloaked, the woman seemed to glow faintly with divinity as she performed those precious last rites for the child.

“I know, Yoon… but I can’t just helplessly stand by. This town has been corrupted since my Father’s time… if that’s the case, that’s all the more reason…”

They watched Naomi murmur the last of the prayer and then bent her head down to kiss the boy’s pale forehead. There was a sweet gentleness to the way she caressed the boy’s face before she stood, blood on her lips and hands.

“Th-Thank you… for whatever you did… thank you.” The mother whispered, grabbing a hold of the edge of Naomi’s cloak.

The red haired woman touched that hand and smiled down at the poor woman, “The Gods honored those who are brave enough to stand up against cruelty and injustice. He will be counted amongst the mightiest warriors of the world. Weep that he was taken too soon, but also smile knowing that he is somewhere that no one will ever hurt him again.”

The mother let the cloak slip through her fingers and she gathered the boy close and wept with the hope that the hooded woman’s words had given her.

Naomi went to Yona, her hands shaking, needing Yona to remind her that there was good in the world. Calloused hands cupped the Princess’ delicate face and her thumbs wiped away the tears that ran down her cheeks.

They touched foreheads, centering the assassin in the balance within her soul. Between Naomi and the Bloody Lover.

“We’ll find a way to help them, little sister. We are not completely powerless. Somehow, we’ll find a way.”

* * *

“Naomi-nee, you can’t. It’ll be too noticeable if you suddenly start massacring the officials and the last thing we need is for someone to run to Kuuto with tales of a red haired assassin slaughtering people in Awa port. And even if you could, getting to Yang Kum-ji would be difficult, even for you. We have to think of another way.” Yoon said, trying to work through Naomi’s stubbornness.

“It wouldn’t be as hard as you’d think,” The assassin muttered, mind turning quickly. She’d not yet scouted the Lord’s home, but she had heard it was a veritable fortress that he rarely left. Getting in would be hard and getting out would be nigh on impossible. At least without more time to figure out its secrets.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead, trying to push away the images in her mind of all the dead children. Too many memories to count.

“We’ll find a way, Onee-chan. I know we can.” Yona said laying a hand on Naomi’s shoulder. It was a subtle command that Naomi heeded. They would think of something that didn’t involve mass murder.

Pity, she thought, it’s what those bastards deserve.

Ao wiggled on Yona’s shoulder and blinked at Naomi. What a strange companion, she thought. “By the way, where’s Shin-Ah?”

Yoon just looked at her, his mouth quirked in a wry smile.

“... You left him to hold down the fort by himself again, didn’t you?” She said, feeling a matching smile come to her face. Well, he is rather memorable, she thought.

“He wasn’t very happy about it either. He wanted to come look for you, but we figured you wouldn’t want to be interrupted when you met with your… friends,” the young man said carefully, temptingly empty of any insinuation, tweaking the feathers in his hair without meeting Naomi’s narrowed eyes.

“Just what do you think-”

“Oh look, Hak is back!” Yona cried, interrupting what was about to be the verbal smackdown of the century. The Princess trotted towards Hak and Naomi looked beyond and saw the green haired pervert beside him. Cracking her knuckles, Naomi followed to give him another lesson in messing with her brother.

“Oh? Who are you?” Yona said cheerfully as the tall man looked with a shocked expression at the little red haired Princess.

_ Thump thump _.

Naomi reached them as a familiar wash of intense power rolled over her and knocked her on her ass.

That terrible, incredible power flowed into Naomi and she watched as the man’s face contorted in agony when the deep resonant voice said the ancient words she remembered so well.

_ Warriors of the Four Dragons! You are now our other halves. You will serve Hiryuu as your master, and protect him with your lives. You will love him, and never betray him. _

Naomi’s breath whistled from between clenched teeth. Yona and Hak leaned over where the man had taken a knee asking if he was alright and Naomi pushed through till the power slowly faded and released her body.

_ You have to be joking… _

She laid back on the ground and breathed deeply through her nose till her head stopped spinning.

Naomi had only felt that once before, standing next to Kija when he first met Princess Yona. It was the binding ritual between the four dragons and the Princess. Their Master.

This green haired pervert is Ryokuryuu?

_ Of course, he is, stupid girl. He has green hair for land’s sake. Even a child should have been able to figure that out. _

When she sat up she glared at Hak.

_ Even if I couldn’t guess it, you certainly should have- dumb Raijuu. _

Yona pressed her hand to the Green Dragon’s forehead gently, “You’re burning up.”

Slowly, she got to her feet and came to stay next to the kneeling man.

“Thank you… young lady. I’m fine now...”

Light dawned in Yona’s eyes, “Ryokuryuu?...”

Naomi sighed and accepted the fact that this annoying man would become a part of her family, resigning herself to her fate. _ How irritating… _

“You’re Ryokuryuu, right?”

Hak looked confused, “How do you…?”

“I kind of… have that feeling,” Yona shrugged, “Am I wrong?”

The man stood and smiled wanly. “What are you talking about?... I’ll just be on my way now.”

Just as he made a move to leave, Kija pounded around the corner, determination in his beautiful eyes.

“Princess, that man is the Green Dragon!” Yoon followed behind Kija quickly.

The Dragon took a step to jump and quick as a snake, Naomi kicked his legs from beneath him and Hak caught him with his forearm across his throat. “You’ll be on your way, huh?”

Hak squeezed and the Green Dragon choked out, “I’m Ryokuryuu.”

Naomi snorted. _ That didn’t take much. _

“He’s the Green Dragon alright. Haven’t gotten knocked over like that since we met you, Kija.” Naomi said, gesturing at the White Dragon.

Ryokuryuu stared questioningly from within Hak’s embrace.

“So you were Ryokuryuu? And here, I wanted nothing more to do with you.” Hak said, releasing the man, who began coughing and gasping.

“Oh. You’re from the wanted poster, the one Onee-chan punched in the throat? I heard about you from Hak and Onee-chan and I wanted to meet you. I’m glad you turned out to be Ryokuryuu.” Yona said with a smile that made Naomi’s heart melt.

The young woman looked at Naomi with narrowed eyes, “And I’m glad you didn’t make it harder for him to have children.”

When the green haired man looked at Naomi in horror, she looked away whistling like she had never said such a thing.

“I’m Yona. What’s your name?”

_ Why is he fighting against it? _ Naomi wondered, almost feeling the inner conflict within the Green Dragon. It hadn’t been like this with Shin-Ah and Kija. So why was he fighting against the bond?

“... It’s nice you. My name is Jae-ha. And I didn’t want to meet you at all, young lady.”

_ Well, color me shocked _, Naomi thought incredulously.

“You knew I was coming?” Yona asked, cocking her head. She was positively irresistible. Naomi fell in love all over again with her precious Princess and sincerely wanted to kick the Green Dragon, Jae-ha, over the horizon.

“I didn’t think you were this cute girl, but I’ve been feeling the presence of Hakuryuu and Seiryuu around here lately, so I knew. If they came along with their Master, I planned to tell them this…”

The man smiled like he was in pain, “‘I have no intention of serving you. Please leave.’”

Everyone seemed mildly shocked to hear those words come from a Dragon. Naomi

moaned in her head. Why did he have to make everything so difficult?

“I’m not Hakuryuu or Seiryuu’s master. Right now, they are lending me their powers. I came because I want to ask you to lend me yours, too.” The Princess said earnestly.

Jae-ha got another smug smile on his face, “I’m glad I seem reliable to a cute girl, but I’m sorry. I don’t happen to have an ambition to live and die for King Hiryuu’s sake like Hakuryuu does. I’ll choose the people I need to protect and I’ll decide for myself where I’ll die. So I’m not interested in lending you my power, miss.”

Naomi slipped a knife from her calf and growled, “I’d be happy to carve your kidneys out, you know. How dare you-”

“Onee-chan.” Yona said quietly and the assassin immediately subsided, slipping her knife back into its sheath and glowering at the back of Jae-ha’s head.

“Jae-ha… you don’t need to act so menacing. It’s alright.” The Princess said, wisdom in her kind eyes. Jae-ha looked shocked and then away from her, seemingly ashamed.

“I understand. I will give up on you.”

Hearing Yona say that made Naomi raise an eyebrow. That didn’t sound much like her to give up on one of the Dragons so easily. When Kija made to argue, the Princess silenced him gracefully.

“I’m just asking a favor of him. It’s not a command.” Yona said smiling, and Naomi felt the sweet power the little Princess had over all of them. Light chains that bound their hearts to her, chains that they’d all die defending.

All it seemed except Jae-ha.

There was something behind it, Naomi knew. There always was. She was just curious what that reason was, to reject the bond the Princess had with the Dragons.

“You’re stepping back rather quickly.” Jae-ha said, perhaps just as shocked as the rest of them that Yona didn’t fight.

“After such a clear rejection, it would be disgraceful to act unreasonably,” Yona’s lips turned into a pout and she gestured with her arms, “Actually, I’m really disappointed.”

Then her face gentled into something bittersweet.

“I wonder why it’s so difficult for me to leave the dragons once I meet them.”

Jae-ha looked almost sad then, but he covered his expression with a fake smile, “I’m disappointed too. It’s been a long while since I’ve met such a cute girl.”

Naomi growled again, “He really doesn’t want to keep his kidneys.”

Hak looked as if in agreeance.

“Besides…”

Jae-ha got close to Hak with an inquisitive look on his face, “I had intended to recruit him.”

Hak’s eyes went deadpan with a sarcastic smile on his face. “It’s disgraceful to act unreasonably.”

Yona looked curious and Naomi wanted to roll her eyes into her head, “You want Hak?”

Naomi muttered ‘dirty things’ under her breath, but when Kija and Yoon glanced at her she looked away innocently.

“Apparently, he’s a pirate. He won’t shut up about my meeting his captain.” Hak

shrugged.

Jae-ha smiled in pain once more, “You’re so cold…”

Yona looked thoughtful again then seemed to make a decision.

“Jae-ha, I’d like to meet your captain.”

Naomi let out a low groan, knowing where this was going. _ Damn, I’m going to have to _

_ get on a boat now. Perfect. _

“Why? Are you giving us Hak?” Jae-ha said, mildly excited.

Yona shook her head bluntly, “No, I’m not handing him over.”

Hak looked so thankful it almost made Naomi laugh.

“You’re the ones that are fighting against Yang Kum-ji, right?”

Jae-ha shrugged, “So what if we are?”

Yona’s small hands balled into fists and an awful fury filled her eyes. The heat of it was 

felt deep in the dark places of Naomi’s soul, the place where her own banked rage lurked waiting for its chance to burn again. To kill again.

“Yesterday, I saw a government official kill a child. I remember that and even now I can’t stop shaking with anger. At those officers, at Yang Kum-ji, and at me, who couldn’t do anything.” The Princess’ jaw clenched, “I don’t want to see another child murdered for no reason. So…”

Yona looked into Jae-ha’s eyes, “Is there something we can do to help you all fight against Kum-ji?”

Naomi thought about it and found herself nodding. Using the pirates as a cover, they could strike down the corrupt Lord, plus the pirates had already done much of the leg work for a rebellion.

_ This place is a powder keg waiting to ignite… _

Then we will be the spark that sets it off, Naomi said with an evil ironic smile.

“Naomi-nee, when you smile like that I get very nervous.” Yoon said, bringing Naomi back to the present.

“I’ll set aside the young miss’ request to cooperate for now. If you bring Hak to us you’ll be able to speak to the captain. Tomorrow come to the ship.” Jae-ha said, parting ways with the five others quickly.

Naomi sighed._ Of course, I have to get on a ship. _

The five made their way back to their camp on the cliff where Shin-Ah waited, his far seeing eyes tracking them carefully.

Naomi didn’t see his smile of relief when he saw her with them.

Yoon prepared their dinner while scolding Yona for not consulting with them before volunteering them to fight alongside pirates. Naomi found it funny that Yoon had no qualms about calling the deadliest assassin in all the lands ‘sister’, but he was worried about working with pirates.

_ Your life is full of irony, little dragon. Get over it. _

Naomi bit back a comment as talking to the echo of her dead Master's memory wasn’t considered sane behavior and her new family already thought she was strange enough.

“I’m going for a walk, alright? Call me when the food is ready.” Naomi called, taking her hard wood case out of her bag and striding away before anyone could argue.

It had been a long time since she had made music with the sea and she needed a place to think away from her friends. There were old feelings inside that she needed to address in order to go forward.

As the sun set on the horizon, Naomi dangled her legs off the cliff and put her Master’s shakuhachi to her bottom lip, listening to the music already in the air. The wind coasting over the water, dancing with the tide that moved at the moon’s command. The waves that kissed the cliffside over and over like an adoring lover.

The melodious sound of the wooden flute melded with the music of the sea, natural as only song could be. It floated on the breeze to become part of the world around her and Naomi allowed herself to think.

She recognized something in Jae-ha that she had avoided thinking about. The obsessive need for freedom. Once, she had been just like that.

Soon after her Master had helped her escape the High House of Arda, her freedom was all that mattered to her. She would have killed anyone or anything that would have taken that away. Her only loyalty was to her Master and at first, it was only because he would give her the tools and skills to take her revenge. Later, it became more.

Jae-ha rebelled against the bond to Yona because once, Jae-ha had been chained. Perhaps, not as a slave, but thinking about how Shin-Ah’s village and the way they treated him, she wondered what Ryokuryuu’s village had done to Jae-ha.

The soaring legs of the Green Dragon meant he could practically fly. He was as free as a bird and could travel anywhere he wanted. Why did he leave his village? Maybe because they hadn’t wanted him to leave at all?

The music momentarily became harsh.

Naomi knew what it was to be chained.

Memories of her life before Nagashima Hiro had found her rose from their dark buried place in Naomi’s mind and she let them.

Every once in a while, it was like a boil that had to be lanced. She would never be able to dig the seed out for it was too deeply embedded inside her, but lancing it helped her keep a clear head when faced with things that would incapacitate her otherwise.

She knew the kind of man Lord Yang Kum-ji was. She had seen hundreds like him when she was young and the thought of facing him filled her with both terror and excitement. The terror belonged to the little girl she had been who had suffered horribly at the hands of men like him. The excitement came from who she had become because of them. She wanted to wipe them all from the face of the planet and Yang Kum-ji would be a fine addition to her ever growing list of victims.

The smell of food distracted her momentarily from her music and she turned to see Shin-Ah holding a bowl and a waterskin.

“Shin-Ah, you don’t need to keep bringing me food. I’d be fine getting it later.” She said, lowering the shakuhachi from her mouth. The masked man shrugged and smiled, bringing the food over anyways.

She sighed and ate it quickly, savoring Yoon’s cooking. He really was a wonderful housewife.

Shin-Ah sat next to her, dangling his feet off the edge, gazing out at the darkening horizon a moment before he took his mask off. When he looked out again, it was with his eyes glowing with fascination and awe.

He’s really seeing all this for the first time, she thought smiling. New sensations were everywhere for him and she wondered how he absorbed it all so well.

“Would you like to play?” He’d been getting better and better since she had given him her gift, but he shook his head.

“I like hearing you play more.” He murmured, his voice gentle as the sea breeze.

Roses bloomed on her cheeks. Anyone who thought that just because he didn’t speak meant he was stupid was dead wrong. Over the weeks, she had come to find him to be extremely observant, eloquent, and intelligent.

_ He might not say a lot but what he does say matters. _

Naomi finished her meal and they sat in silence for a time, listening to the waves kiss the cliffside.

Then he asked her questions.

What was the city like? How do the boats float? Is ocean water truly salty? How far did the sea stretch? What had happened to the child Yoon had told him about? What had Kija meant by ‘she gave the boy one last blessing?’ What was Jae-ha like? Had she really punched him in the throat? Were they really meeting pirates? What exactly were pirates?

It was like a ritual. They had done this most nights where out of the silence, a million questions about the world came and she always answered as detailed and truthfully as she could.

In a way, he began to see the world as Naomi saw it. With all the good and bad, colors and music and love and hate that she had witnessed. She became his bridge to a world that he had never been allowed to be a part of till Yona had brought him from the darkness.

Sometimes, she asked him questions. He told her about his life, about the fear and loneliness that had dogged his steps since he was first born. About Ao and his anger, but also his rough kindness.

They alone knew about Orella and her little boy Rin, whom Naomi prayed for- that she had reached Belarusia safely and found the life she had been searching for. Shin-Ah prayed too, when he’d learned it.

The only thing that Shin-Ah never asked about was the time in her life that Naomi avoided. Shin-Ah knew there was a gap between when she had been in Belarusia as a child and when she had become the student of the Viper King that she refused to speak of.

The one time he had asked she had turned away from him, her face so blank she had looked like a doll, except for the burning blue eyes that had left Shin-Ah cold with fear. He knew that there were places in her past that he could not venture and part of him didn’t want to. If he knew, he might find out why this wonderful woman had such horrible scars on her back, covered by a beautiful tattoo. Then he might also know the feeling of that hatred he’d seen lurking in the shadows of her mind.

He only wanted her to be happy. Happy and free.

When the questions that night had run dry, he watched her with unmasked eyes as she deftly, put away the wooden flute her Master had gifted her, but his sharp eyes saw something else that made his heart leap out of his chest.

Before she could shut the case, he reached out and touch the two small bells at the bottom of the case and heard their quiet chime.

He hadn’t seen them since they had fallen from his mask outside his village. He thought they had stayed in the dust, forgotten. She had them this whole time?

He looked at her and saw the flustered set of her mouth and that sweet utter vulnerability in her soft eyes.

How could someone so outrageously strong, fierce, and walled away look at him so open and fragile? Did she not know what happened to him when she looked at him like that?

“I’m sorry I kept them. I should have given them back but…”

She met his eyes nervously, not because of the power that she could still feel trying to entrance her, but because she was afraid he would be unhappy.

He picked up the bells and rang them gently. The sound was so happy that he couldn’t help but smile.

She smiled in return, dimples and all.

“That sound saved me from death in the darkness of the tunnels. I had given up trying to get out and had given up on life. My blessings were fading from me. I was going to die there, alone, in a tomb of my own creation. Then I heard these,” She touched the bells hanging from his fingers, “And I was saved. You had somehow seen me and had come back for me even though you had just escaped the darkness yourself. You came back for me.”

Shin-Ah wasn’t sure if he actually remembered how to breathe. His chest was so tight, it was like someone had stolen the air away from him.

He placed the bells back in the hardwood box and closed it gently, moving it out of the way. He closed the gap between them and propped one foot up on the edge of the cliff, a pose he had observed Hak making before.

Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought Naomi’s breath hitched when he leaned close to her and brushed a lock of her hair away.

“I will always come for you, Naomi,” His fingers brushed her cheek tenderly. He didn’t know how to tell her how he felt, but he could say this, “No matter how far or how dark, I will come find you.”

He could see the pulse beating in the hollow of her throat as she put her hand on his chest, turning her body to lean into him.

“Shin-Ah…”

_ Find out what she tastes like _, he thought to himself, cupping her cheek, lips descending.

His eyes locked on hers, drowning in those blue pools, drinking deep their beauty. She 

was so open, so trusting. He meant to keep his eyes open, but he found himself closing them as he got closer to her. Her breath rolled across his face, smelling of apples and dinner.

He wondered if she tasted like apples too.

Their lips were centimeters away, hands warm, eyes closed… when someone behind 

them cleared their throat.

Naomi jerked back, flushing from the tips of her ears to her toes. They turned and saw Kija standing a ways back looking mortified himself. He turned red as Naomi’s hair as Shin-Ah immediately slipped his mask back on.

“Ah… I-we were wondering where you both w-were so now that I know, I will leave, bye!” He fled as fast as he could.

Naomi stared in shock and moved to stand, then as an afterthought grabbed her hardwood case and touched the back of his hand.

“Thank you, Shin-Ah.”

She flashed a quick grin, her walls already up in her eyes before she bolted after the fleeing White Dragon like an arrow. “Kija! Get back here!”

He watched her go regretfully.

So close…

He looked down the cliff and saw the tide going out, leaving the cliffside bare and lonely. Water trickled down it’s base like tears and it seemed the water called out, already missing the touch of the face it kept coming back to.

Shin-Ah sighed heavily.

_ Me too... _


	17. Chapter Seventeen

The next morning came and the group made their way towards the place that Yoon had found the pirate ship.

Kija was noticeably quiet and kept throwing furtive glances at the back of Naomi’s head and at Shin-Ah’s masked profile. No one else noticed the change of interaction, but after what Naomi had said last night, Kija knew things were a little different now.

The red haired assassin, for the most part, was able to ignore it, focusing on steeling herself for the trial ahead. She hadn’t told anyone about her weakness yet when it came to boats, but she prayed that it had faded over the years.

Jae-ha met them at the secret dock with a small smile on his face.

Naomi wore her hood up, matching Yona, but her hands rested on the hilts of her blades and she didn’t bother concealing them in her cloak. It was better to let the pirates know right off the bat that she wasn’t someone to cross.

“Welcome aboard, Hak and company.”

Naomi stared at the ship bobbing in the water and sighed heavily.

Everyone climbed on board while she stood there, arguing with herself.

“Sprite, you coming?” Hak muttered, seeing the assembled pirates waiting.

Naomi shifted uncomfortably and the large man noticed.

“What? Are you afraid of boats?”

The hooded woman scoffed, “Of course not.”

“Water?”

“No.”

“Then why aren’t you getting on the boat?”

Hak was genuinely confused- but he was starting to get an inkling that Naomi really did not want to get onto the ship.

“There’s nothing wrong if you’re nervous, Aneki-”

With a huff, Naomi gracefully swung herself over the railing and onto the wooden floor of the ship. She planted her feet firmly, feeling the ship bounce gently in the water.

“I am fine.” She growled gutturally, sauntering to Yona’s side, breathing deeply through her nose.

_ So far so good _ , she thought,  _ maybe it really has gone away?... _

The group faced the assembled pirates who were sizing them up, standing behind a blanked face older woman smoking a slender Kai pipe.

An awkward silence descended.

“I’m Yona. Are you the captain?” The Princess said, breaking that silence gently.

The old lady with her sharp brown eyes, stared at Yona like a cat at a particularly brave mouse, “I am Captain Gi-gan… Jae-ha told me about you. He said you want to help us.”

Yona smiled, “Yes.”

Naomi was tense, waiting for her weakness to strike, but was thoroughly distracted when the Captain walked up to Shin-Ah and tapped his chest with her pipe.

“What’s with that mask?” Gi-gan demanded, taking in the look of the Blue Dragon. Everyone seemed nervous of him, and while Naomi couldn’t blame them, it still made her bristle with anger.

“Take it off!” The crabby old woman swiped Shin-Ah’s mask off his face, which he immediately covered with his hands.

Hak saw Naomi’s temper flare and he stepped forward to stop her from beginning a massacre.

“Lady, just what the f-”

A wave brushed the side of the ship, sending it bobbing gently up and down beneath their feet. A strange look came over Naomi’s face as she felt her stomach lurch and churn.

“Oh sweet Goddess help me…”

All parties except for Shin-Ah watched as Naomi, the staunchest most ironclad woman ever born, ran to the side of the ship and hurled the meager contents of her stomach over the port side railing.

“Oh my.” Yona said, thoroughly shocked and confused.

Hak, the heartless bastard, began to laugh hysterically.

Captain Gi-gan simply kept trying to peel Shin-Ah’s hands from his face.

As the tide shifted, the waters grew slightly rougher and Naomi moaned as her stomach did it’s best to turn inside out. 

“Hey! He is an extremely shy person!” Yoon called to the struggling captain as he and Hak went to aid their poor sister.

“Onee-chan? What’s wrong? Was it the food this morning?” Yoon asked, putting his hand on her clammy forehead. Hak carefully removed her hood and held her hair back.

“Heh, no sweet boy… the food was fine… I just…I… hrk… I sometimes get hor-” She vomited again halfway through speaking.

“Horribly, horribly seasick.” Hak finished for her, still grinning.

Naomi gave him a baleful look as she wiped her mouth and took a shuddering breath.

“It never lasts long, but yes, when I first step on the deck of a ship I get badly seasick.” She muttered, grimacing at the taste in her mouth. The breakfast Yoon had fixed that morning did not taste very good the second time.

Her nausea was still bellowing its warcry on her body when she turned back to the crew who had respectfully averted their eyes from her predicament. A few among them felt keen sympathy for the woman as they remembered what it was like to first get seasick.

The Captain finally gave up trying to peel Shin-Ah’s hands from his face and turned to see Naomi’s face her once more this time without her hood up. The gleaming river of crimson hair rolled over the woman’s right shoulder to her hip and the men who finally saw her were struck senseless by her visage, even pale and sick as she was.

Jae-ha stared, utterly entranced by such exquisite beauty. He didn’t mind so much that she had punched him in the throat once he saw the full picture of her.

Lovely as she was, everything about her seemed... eerie. It seemed strange to say that she was too beautiful, so beautiful she seemed alien.

“No sealegs, eh?” He called out to her, only to watch a murderous intent enter her eyes, eyes that a man could get lost in and not want to come out.

“I bet your liver tastes delicious.” She snarled, anger putting color back in her cheeks.

He chuckled, “I thought you wanted my kidneys.”

Yoon wrapped his arms around her before she could draw a blade.

“That was when I was behind you and your kidneys were easier to reach. Now you’re in front of me. Plus, I can’t eat your kidneys, but I know several delicious recipes for human liver.” Her teeth gleamed in the sunlight and Jae-ha gave her that infuriatingly smug smile.

“Jae-ha, quit teasing her. You know what it is like to hurl your guts up over a railing, although the last time you did it, it was your own fault drinking the ship dry. At least she doesn’t have a choice in the matter.” The Captain drawled, her voice bored and unimpressed by the two who were about to do battle on her ship.

Though the mention of eating human liver made the old woman shiver a little inside.

Naomi was clearly foreign and who knew what kind of savage place she came from. The Captain faced the group of odd people and measured them carefully.

“The thing that matters most to me is trust. Who would ask for the help of people that can’t be trusted?” She said carefully, gazing at each of them slowly with her light brown eyes. When she locked eyes, she saw Naomi’s answer clearly.

_ Those who are desperate to win a losing fight. _

Naomi let the flicker of a poisonously sweet smile cross her lips..

“But you need fighters, don’t you, Captain?” Hak called, his glaive resting comfortably on his shoulder, all lazy arrogance.

Captain Gi-gan smiled wryly in response.

In moments Hak, Kija and Shin-Ah were surrounded by the full force of the pirates of Awa. Naomi was back to puking water and quite frankly she wasn’t needed in this fight. If the Captain wanted a showcase of Naomi’s art, she could ask for it. Yoon rubbed her back soothingly.

“If you can beat all these guys, you pass.” The Captain stated imperiously. The assassin wondered what she had been before taking over the rebellion and becoming a pirate. Most of the men were fishermen, shipwrights or shopkeepers by the look of them.

“If this is all they have, we’ll definitely win.” One of the pirates said grinning happily.

“Captain, they’re outnumbered no matter how you look at it…” Another said.

Hak nodded. “You’re right. This is too much, right?”

“Yes,” Kija replied and Shin-Ah nodded with a small smile on his face.

At the same time, they looked at their opponents. “I alone am enough to take them all down.”

The two pirates who had been commenting early snarled.

“Just try it!” One yelled as they all gave battle cries and attacked the trio.

Jae-ha just sighed and looked at his fellows a regretful look.

It was over in minutes.

All the pirates lay prone on the deck moaning softly.

“How are you feeling, Captain Gi-gan? Want us now?” Hak’s grin begged for another fight.

The old woman’s face never changed, but she seemed quite stunned by the three men’s performance.

“It’s no use, Captain. Their strength is extraordinary. It would be like having three of me.” Jae-ha admitted to his Captain’s stiff back.

The old lady huffed gently. “You pass.”

Yona smiled and Naomi wiped her mouth across the back of her hand.  _ Great, now we’re pirates. More boats. _

“Don’t relax too quickly, kids. What can you do?” The grey haired captain said motioning at Yoon. The young man met the Captain’s eyes unflinching and began to list off his extensive list of skills.

“I don’t like violence so I don’t fight. Nee-chan is teaching me staff fighting so I can defend myself, but I’m not very good yet. Other than that, I can do anything. Cooking, sewing, hunting, treating the wounded and if I have the right ingredients I can make explosives. I’m also a handsome young man.”

Naomi was smiling.  _ If you taught him how to steer the boat, he could probably do that too. _

“I see. What about you?” She asked, bobbing her pipe at the Princess.

“Ah… I… I can…”

Yona was pensive as she thought.

Naomi said nothing, knowing that it would reflect badly on Yona if someone else spoke up.

The Princess remained silent.

“Nothing, huh?” The Gi-gan condemned, unimpressed and disappointed. “Someone who can’t do anything here will be a hindrance.”

Yona tried to speak up, but the Captain rode right over her, “Kum-ji has a large number of difficult people working for him in this town. But if you don’t have the strength, then even if you fight back, you will only lose your life. It’s impossible for a little girl like you.”

The assassin snarled in fury but loyalty bound her to stay put.

“Go home.” The Captain said with an air of finality.

“She can command me, which is enough.” Naomi called, blessing the Lady as her stomach settled and her balance returned. The Captain turned to look at her, taking in the assortment of clothes, her bone handled blades and her bloody colored hair as well as the dark look in her eyes. Eyes that held death.

“And you are?”

The young woman put a hand on her hip and shot them all a look full of deadly sass. “You can call me Yami.”

A collective gasp went around the deck, falling into stillness.

“And I specialize in taking care of, as you say, ‘difficult people’. She alone can command me.”

Yona looked surprised that the other redhead would say something like that out loud.

The Captain paled beneath her sun worn tan, but held her ground. “She can command you, but you’re still the one wading into the fray. If she can’t do anything herself, she should leave.”

Jae-ha looked distinctly uncomfortable with Naomi’s revelation, realizing that he had stared down the shirt of the bloodiest assassin on the continent and had been stupid enough to  _ admit _ it. 

_ But what is Yami the Ripper doing with this group of misfits? And why does she bend knee to a little girl, the ‘Master of the Four Dragons’? _

Kija growled, “If this person cannot join then we-”

“Kija.” Yona said quietly, as gentle a command ever was. “It’s fine. It’s as Captain Gi-gan says but…”

Naomi couldn’t see the Princess’ face, but she could feel those eyes burning.

“I have my own reasons for not backing down.”

Perhaps, it was her boldness or her stubbornness, but the Captain smiled almost warmly.

“Very well. You’ll do a job for me to prove to me that you’re useful and worthy of my trust.” The Captain’s eyes narrowed and Naomi felt her heart tighten in fear.

“A life threatening job.”

* * *

Naomi stared down at the place called the Vanishing Cape.

Mist clung to the side of the cliff, giving hazy stomach tightening views of the drop that awaited a certain stubborn Princess should she follow through with the test the Captain gave her.

_ Of course she will _ , Naomi thought chewing on her lower lip until it bled,  _ at this point she has to or she’ll be forced to concede to her fears of weakness _ . _ And if she is forced to give in, the damage to her confidence could be crippling. She’s a future monarch. She may have to go to war one day or make the kinds of decisions that end in death. If she fails her first true test, will she ever find the strength to wear the weight of a crown? _

She had never taken the long path down to the cave where the wonder plant grew, but her Master had done it before and had set a record of six minutes and twelve seconds down and back along the one path that ran to the little cave, a path only six or seven inches wide.

He’d always been a bit of a show-off.

The powerful winds pushed relentlessly against Naomi’s body, but she stood still as a mountain. And there are

She watched Jae-ha speak to Yona, but Naomi couldn’t hear it over the pounding of her own heart.  _ Of course, there are also worse things than failure down that path _ .

She should stop them, she should do something, but she simply couldn’t. Yona wanted to do this on her own and showing doubt would hurt her confidence. Naomi had to believe that she could do this.

Just before they descended, Naomi ran up.

“Yona!”

Both turned, surprised to see her there. They’d no idea that she had followed behind them at a breakneck speed.

Naomi ran up and hugged her precious person close, Ao nuzzling her cheek from Yona’s shoulder.

“You can do this, little sister. I believe in you,” Naomi said tightly, “we all believe in you. You’ve become so strong that there isn’t anything you can’t do. Go show them how strong you’ve gotten.”

Naomi pulled back and cupped Yona’s cheek gently, pressing a kiss to the Princess’ forehead, pushing every bit of blessing she could into that kiss.

“You’ll be here when I get back?” Yona whispered fearfully.

“I am here, little sister,” Naomi sighed, holding the fear at bay just barely. “Good luck.” With the greatest reluctance, the older redhead let go of the center of her world and stepped back, feeling the wind push her hair wildly around her head.

Yona smiled wanly and turned to the opening to the pathway, Jae-ha following behind her.

“Wait.” She called softly as she lurched forward, her fingers catching hold of his sleeve. All her emotions were written across her face and Jae-ha was shocked to see it so open to him.

“Please take care of her.” The words came out a harsh plea, almost lost to the wind and her accent.

Jae-ha stared for a moment, hypnotized by the deep blue of her eyes. Then he tightened his lips and nodded.

Naomi watched as they crept down the path, going so close to the edge she almost fell, just to keep them in her sight for a minute longer.

She had never felt this fear when her Master had traversed this path. Her heart hadn’t been in her throat, her stomach wasn’t so tight she could barely breathe, her hands hadn’t shaken uncontrollably.

_ Have confidence, little dragon. She may be more like me than you know. I was afraid going down those paths. All she has to do is keep going, one step at a time, and she will come back. _

She gripped one of her bone handles tightly enough to pop her knuckles and hoped it was true. Begged for it to be true.

Naomi looked at the water, growing bolder with every wave and thought about her last words on the ship before she had taken off to follow Jae-ha and Yona.

_ “Lady, I hope you understand that if she doesn’t come back safe, I’m going to separate your head from your shoulders and slaughter every person who has ever spoken to you.” _

_ “I’ve spoken to many people.” _

_ “Not as many as I’ve already killed. Men have started wars and can’t match my body count so you’d better start praying that the sea stays calm.” _

“You’d better be praying, you old bitch.” Naomi muttered into the wind, kneeling down to do some praying of her own.

The waves grew higher, despite Naomi’s fervent prayers.

It would seem the Lady of Blessed Night was not on great terms with her sister, the Lady of Seas. Wind buffeted Naomi, but she didn’t move. She would be there to see her Princess return victorious.

Not long later, she was joined by her family as well as the Captain and crew.

The weathered old Captain didn’t look nearly nervous enough for Naomi’s taste, but the young woman kept on praying, not stopping her litany to her Gods. She may have been a true daughter of the Lady of Blessed Night, but she was still a child of Belarusia and prayed the Lady of Seas remembered that.

It was a scary thought that the benevolent Lady of Seas was also called the Mother of Monsters though. All Belarusian parents gleefully terrorized their children with stories of the horrors that lay in the deep sea.

Naomi’s heart had not stopped racing.

Belarusian prayers tumbled from her lips as she cast them to the wind, hoping her Gods would still hear her.

_ Please, please, I’m begging you. I know I haven’t prayed to you in years, but I swear I will from now on if you bring her back to me safe. I’ll pray, give offerings, honor our holy days again if you just please bring her back to me. _

She could hear men behind her asking what she was doing. She let Yoon reply for her, hoping no one was dumb enough to ask her himself.

They were mesmerized by the flowing language that spilled from her lips, unlike anything they’d heard before. They wondered what she was saying and who she was saying it too.

What was she?

_ Please, Lords and Ladies, bring her back to me. _

It was Shin-Ah who brought her to a halt. Tapping gently on her shoulder as not to startle her, he leaned over and pointed past her shoulder to the entrance of the path.

Not daring to breathe, Naomi watched as Jae-ha and Yona crept along the cliff face back going slowly till they reached the opening to the top of the cliff and safety. Yona was smiling, though soaking wet, and she had a pouch tied to her belt that seemed full.

“Lords and Ladies, thank you. Thank you.” She gasped, sagging onto her heels and bowing her head to the sea.

Shin-Ah ran a hand down her wind tangled hair smiling before returning to the others. Only Kija saw this and he wisely didn’t comment.

He did smile slightly though.

Yoon was the first to reach her, hugging her tightly almost strangling poor Ao and berating her for her recklessness. The test hadn’t sounded so bad till he had seen the cliff.

Hak looked relaxed, but when his eyes met Naomi’s she knew he was as sick with relief as she.

“Where is the senjusou?” Captain Gi-gan asked.

Yona, her hands torn up, took the pouch from her belt and handed it over. “Right here.”

The Captain nodded, “Indeed it is. Then did you keep your promise?”

“No,” Yona replied steadfastly, “I received help from Jae-ha.”

The green haired man in question looked in shock at the little Princess.

“A big wave suddenly came and almost threw me out to sea… Jae-ha rescued me. I wasn’t able to use my own strength.” Yona looked upset at what she deemed failure, but Naomi knew the others had heard her breath catch when she heard Yona’s confession.

_ Oh sweet Gods, I almost lost her. _

“Does that mean you’re giving up?” The Captain asked with an arch tone.

Naomi did not like the look in her Princess’ eyes. “No. I’ll go get it again by myself!” She decried boldly and Naomi ground her teeth together.

_ Over my dead body, little sister. _

Surprisingly enough, Captain Gi-gan threw her head back and belted a hoarse smoker’s laugh.

“If Jae-ha had stood by and let a girl who had fallen into the sea die, I would have thrown him into the sea myself.” The old woman said amused.

_ In pieces, you mean. You would have thrown the pieces of him into the sea because that’s all I would have left you. _

The Captain put her fingers under Yona’s chin. “Your eyes are red. You cried a great deal, didn’t you?”

Yona sputtered about it being salt water that got into her eyes.

“Your hands are injured and your legs are wobbly,” The Captain said this pleased. “You have guts, don’t you? People like you never abandon their comrades even when they're in the face of danger.”

The Captain stepped back and turned to go, “I don’t dislike idiots like that. Get on the boat.”

The old lady looked at Naomi and smiled. For some weird reason, Naomi smiled back a tired, worn smile.

“Got a test for me, Captain?”

The woman chuckled, “You passed when you threatened me, went after them, but still stayed right here and let her complete her test. Stepping back is the hardest part when someone we love is in danger, but you did it. Now, I have use for someone like you, even if you do get seasick. Get on the boat, Yami and make sure not to hurl on my deck.”

Naomi sighed and laughed dryly. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

_ But first… I have to keep my promise _ , Naomi thought wearily. When she awoke this morning, she hadn’t imagined she would feel so old by the evening.

She stood gracefully and walked back to the terrifying edge and looked down at the roiling waters.

Slipping one of her knives from its sheath, she slid its keen edge along the back of her hand deep enough for the blood to flow freely, but not enough that it would damage the muscles beneath.

She held her hand over the edge and let the blood drip down and fall to the hungry waves below.

_ “Hear me, Lady of Seas, Maker of Storms. I give this offering in Your name with gratitude for Your gift. As I swore, I will retake the Gods of my homeland and this is the first of many offerings. By my blood, I honor You. I pray You will look favorably upon Your Sister Goddess’ troublesome child in my battle to come in your domain...” _

The blood fell drop by drop until the offering was complete and Naomi pulled her hand back and let out a sigh. The wind seemed to chuckle in her ears and the waves calmed as the Lady of Seas accepted the offering.

The Lady of Blessed Night smiled gently in Naomi’s soul, fluttering her wings gently in approval of Her daughter’s decision.

“Miss Yami.” A voice called behind her and she saw Jae-ha walking away from a stunned looking Hak. He saw the blood running down her fingers and the knife in her other hand, “What happened?” He asked concernedly, taking the pale calloused hand in his own while pulling a bandage from somewhere in his long overcoat.

“Nothing that concerns you, Ryokuryuu.” She smiled wryly as he bound the wound as gently as he could.

She slipped the knife back into its sheath and took her hand back from him. Admittedly, he did a fine job binding it. Glancing at him, Naomi saw him as frazzled and as exhausted as she.  _ The Princess does have that effect on her people _ , Naomi thought bemused.

“Thank you, Jae-ha. For keeping her safe. I know you don’t want anything to do with her or us, but still… thank you.”

Jae-ha looked down at the foreign young woman and smiled gently.

She was much nicer to talk to when she wasn’t making fur fly and threatening his bodily organs. Her voice was like music with that curious accent and very pleasant to listen to.

Besides, she really was an exquisite work of art, wrought by some wild God’s exacting hand, refined by cruelty and tempered by loyalty.

He put his fingers under her chin. “Anything to make you smile, Miss Yami.”

Naomi’s lips curled into an impish smile. He was charming when he wanted to be. Didn’t stop her from wanting to hit him, but he was charming.

“Why the back of the hand?” He asked, dropping his hand from her face, lest he give in to the urge to touch her skin more.

She touched the bandages and arched a brow at him. Such an expressive motion.

“Where I’m from, we are practically born with a blade in our hands. It would be foolish when giving an offering to make the cut with the part of your hand that holds the blade. Besides, there are more nerves in the palm so it hurts more than the back of the hand. A cut here will hurt a bit but it won’t hinder you.” She relayed matter-of-factly, pointing to where the bandages were spotting with red.

He wondered, not for the first time, where the terrifying redhead was from. She was a mystery that he had no clue for; a puzzle missing too many pieces.

A complex creature, to say the least.

“Fascinating, truly. But I do believe we are getting left behind, Lady, so it’d be best if we caught up to our comrades.”

Naomi tried to run a hand through her hair, “I think you would be correct Lord Ryokuryuu. I am apparently in desperate need of a hair brush.”

He laughed at her and she mimed a punch at him.

Jeez, she is fun to talk to, Jae-ha thought as he watched her try to finger comb her wild hair into some semblance of order. The wind playfully ensured no such thing would happen. Her blood colored hair looked too close to bedroom disheveled for the man to concentrate.

“Do you really know recipes for human liver?” Jae-ha asked, cocking his head at her.

Her wolfish smile was all the answer he needed.

* * *

Brushing her hair turned out to be more of a chore than she would have thought. The wind had made a bird’s nest out of the back of her head and she had to resist the temptation to hack it all off with one of her blades.

She knew she wouldn’t, but she was very tempted after she ripped yet another knot of dark red hair out of the nest.

Naomi had taken off her overcoat, her multitude of belts and blades as well as her boots, leaving her in her grey blouse and her black pants. It felt like she had taken her armor off for once and she enjoyed the feeling of wind of her bare feet.

Jae-ha said she looked more beautiful this way, but Naomi knew she only looked more vulnerable and therefore more appealing. ‘Less likely to gut someone’ was Hak’s brief comment.

It was funny- although he drove her mad, she was growing quite fond of Jae-ha. Or as she now called him, Old Man.

She could hardly believe that he was twenty five years old.

Another knot ripped out of her hair and she growled at the pain. The men stayed far away from her and her dark mood, casting glances over at her whenever she yelped at the hairbrush and trying not to laugh.

When they did laugh, she would whip around and stare at them with murder in her eyes.

Which only made them want to laugh more.

Sure, she made them nervous. She was Yami the Ripper after all, one who could certainly follow through on her death threats. But she was also a vassal of Miss Yona, so she couldn’t be all bad.

As she ripped more hair from her head, wincing and rubbing her poor scalp, someone came up behind her and took the brush from her hand. She half expected it to be Jae-ha, but when Naomi tilted her head back, she saw the broad figure of Hak with a haunted self loathing in his eyes.

“Need help?” He asked nonchalantly, but he looked like a man reaching out for a life preserver in the open ocean. When she acceded, she saw a bit of that wild panic leave his eyes as he settled down to help her.

He was surprisingly gentle as he fished the knots part and carefully brushed from the bottom of her hair up.

A calm silence passed between the two, both of them relaxing to the motion of the brush through her hair.

She wondered what was wrong with him.

More hair untangled as he carefully moved from one knotted section to the other and Naomi sighed with pleasure from the feeling. No one had brushed her hair for her since…

Best not to think on that.

To forget, she began to sing very quietly, just loud enough that only she and Hak could hear it. The large man clearly needed to talk, but he was so strained by the silence that the words were dying in his throat.

So she sang a sweet little tune about a starfish who wanted to go to the sky to become a real star.

One by one, the crew members piled onto the ship where Yoon was cooking dinner for everyone until they were alone. Well, except for the three figures who watched them from hidden places afar.

Shin-Ah from the stern of the ship, Kija at the bow, and Yona from a little rise behind them.

Once her hair was knot free and silky again, Hak gently started from the crown of her head and wove the dark red hair into a simple, utilitarian braid that hung down her spine.

“I didn’t know you could braid, aniki.” She commented quietly once her song had run its course.

Hak half smiled at the back of her head as she ran a hand down her braided hair. “I watched you do it enough times, I picked it up pretty well.”

Then the smile fell and he leaned forward to rest his head against her back.

“I think I messed up, aneki.” He murmured. Naomi turned in her seat, concern written across her gorgeous features.

He laid his head in her lap and she began combing her fingers through his smooth black hair. “What happened?”

He was silent, debating on whether he should tell her everything or keep his horrible embarrassment to himself.

Pride won out.

“I did something not entirely appropriate and I frightened her. I let my desire overcome my better judgment and now I don’t know what to do.”

He sounded awful and Naomi couldn’t figure out what to say. So she just kept stroking his head soothingly, offering a sympathetic silence for her poor love stricken brother. She knew just how he felt.

Hadn’t she felt the same with her beloved Master Hiro before he had admitted his feelings for her? Oh yes, she had made mistakes then and paid a hard price for her thoughtlessness toward him.

“It’ll be alright. By tomorrow she won’t even remember it,” she whispered kindly, pressing a gentle kiss to his temple.

“I’ve suppressed my desire for her countless times before this and that droopy eyed bastard says one thing and I lose my mind. She’s free and happy. Why can’t I be satisfied with that? I’m an idiot.”

She resolved to punch Jae-ha the next time she saw him.

“Love makes fools of us all. I know that better than most, brother. But I also know that the more you deny its existence, the harder it becomes to hide.” Naomi murmured softly, a hint of longing in her voice.

_ Who am I to call him a lovestruck fool? I fall in love with people at the drop of a hat.  _

_ Madly, hopelessly, stupidly in love. _

_ Ah, the God’s blessings were always a double edged weapon. _

“Don’t worry, aniki. I’m still rooting for you.”

Hak took heart from her words and felt the sick self hatred in his stomach ease away. Her presence took away the aching fear and her word calmed him enough that he stopped feeling like he was about to rip apart.

His stomach growled and the little redheaded woman laughed brightly.

Hak enjoyed hearing his sister by choice laugh.

She planted another kiss on his forehead and pushed his head off her lap.

“Go get food, Raijuu. By the way, want to tell me why your breath smells like honey?” She asked with her sassy eyebrow already rising.

“Wow, I think I smell Yoon’s cooking, I’m going to go now, thank you bye!” Hak cried dashing away towards the ship.

Naomi shook her head and smiled after him.

She turned back to face the sea, enjoying the feeling of the sunset of her skin. She had to admit, though she had been against the idea of becoming a pirate, she was enjoying her time here. She liked the people they were with, and the sound and smell of the sea.

She missed the mountains though.

And not being seasick.

Gazing at the sunset, Naomi thought of a line in one of the poems Yoon had read days before. A poem from Belarusia and thought about Yona.

_ For you are bright and brilliant as the first touch of the rising dawn bringing in the new day and I as sorrowful and shining as the last rays of the dying sunset heralding the darkness, together we set the sky aflame and the world to turn for our glory. _

The Princess in Naomi’s thoughts smiled sadly, watching Naomi bask in the light, as perfect as a statue of a new God.

She thought about Hak and Naomi together and how Naomi had pressed her lips to Hak so sweetly that the pain had melted from the large man’s face.

The pain she had put there.

Yona was so confused, but she sighed and shrugged to herself, looking at Ao on her shoulder.

“They look good together, don’t you think? They are so alike, so strong and brave. Hak is handsome and Onee-chan is beautiful. They would be good together.”

Yona didn’t know why the thought made her so sad.

The masked man on the boat, also watching Naomi, wondered the same thing.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Naomi threw up again, glad she hadn’t eaten yet. It would be such a waste of good food if it only got hurled over the railing as soon as she got on the ship.

Kija patted her back gently then left to go get his food before everyone went for seconds.

The food smelled delicious, but Naomi’s stomach was queasy enough that the scent of it made her hang her head over the side in defeat.

Looked like she wasn’t eating anytime soon.

“The terrifying Yami the Ripper defeated by sea sickness. There is poetry in there somewhere.” Jae-ha said, coming from the main cabin where the crew and her family were having a raucous sounding dinner.

“Very funny, Jae-ha. Go away. I’m wallowing in my misery.”

He chuckled and came up beside her.

“Don’t worry. Your secret's safe with us. Oh, I like your hair braided.” He said, taking the thick rope of hair in his hand, marveling at the weight of it.

“Hak braided it for me. Which reminds me…”

She grabbed him in the blink of an eye and turned him toward the railing before slamming her fist into his gut. He doubled over, only having seen the flap of her strange cloak, but didn’t throw up.

“Oh good, you hadn’t eaten yet.” Naomi said, her voice wobbly and hoarse as she leaned over the railing again.

Jae-ha only moaned and remained where he was- hung right next to her.

Together, they wallowed in their respective miseries.

Kija glanced and saw the two of them hanging like dead bodies over the railing and looked at Hak. “I wonder what they are doing?”

Hak knew exactly what had happened and blessed his sister fervently before shrugging. “Mmmm maybe she is teaching him some worship from her homeland.”

Kija shrugged as well, his eyes narrowing as he watched Naomi, occasionally shuddering at the force of her motion sickness.

Misery indeed.

“You… You have one hell of a punch… you are much smaller than Hak, but you punch like him. I will have to remember that.” Jae-ha groaned, pulling himself back up and rubbing his stomach gently. He was glad she hadn’t hit him like that when she’d gone for his throat.

She hadn’t broken anything, but he wouldn’t soon forget the strength in her powerful arms and her toned, curvaceous body.

Naomi mumbled a snarky comment and levered herself up, feeling her stomach slowly beginning to settle reluctantly inside her. The waters were calm and the night wind cool.

“Just wait till you cross blades with me one day, Old Man. I’ll take your kidneys, liver and spinal string to boot.” She growled with a vicious smile, very aware that all but one of her bone-handled blades were stowed with her things in a tree several hundred feet away.

Jae-ha chuckled and touched her pale cheek gently.

“I look forward to the day I see you in action, Lady.”

Naomi clicked her tongue and playfully shoved him away. 

“Off with you, rogue.” She tossed her braid over her shoulder, laughing as her gaze was pulled up to the crow’s nest. Jae-ha winked at her before strolling away, moving with the ship like a dancer. Naomi’s legs wobbled, but she still managed to climb the ropes upward to the crown of the ship, the soaring height helping to clear her sick-fogged brain. As her hooded head cleared the entryway, the man on watch gasped and almost threw himself from the sturdy basket. But the long braid of red hair stilled the man long enough for the assassin to speak.

“Go down and get some food. I’ll take the watch now.” She said soothingly, ushering the guard from the nest with a charming smile that left the pirate breathless.

Naomi felt blessedly alone with the sea and sky for company. _ Finally. _

The day had not tested her in feat of arms like she had thought it would. It had tested her with sickness (which she had expected, but sweet Gods, in front of everyone? She’d never live it down) and with faith. It was hard to say which was the more pitched battle.

The exhausted woman leaned her back against the mast, and slowly slid to sit; drinking in the peace and silence, as if her being was wrung out and needed the soothing coolness of a night at sea to herself to relax.

She leaned down and spent several moments, head bent and muscles stretched from her toes to the crown of her head and her arms crossed to pull her shoulder blades apart. There were more than a few trembles of tension that she teased out with micro adjustments and patience.

Naomi had learned much patience as of late.

It was nice being so high up, with a brisk wind sweeping away any lingering nausea. Her cloak kept her warm enough and the wind couldn’t toss her hair into her face, deepening the peace Naomi was building in her nest. A nest that held her, warm and safe, perfectly poised between earth, sea, and sky.

With endless patience and counted heartbeats, Naomi teased the flexibility back into her pliable body until all her muscles lay loose and relaxed, not an ache or pain left unattended to. When she could fold herself gracefully into several complex positions with the ease of falling silk, she allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction.

Her body was a gift that had survived many trials and tribulations that she tried to care for in that honor- and a weapon that she kept as well honed as her steel.

Settling back down comfortably, Naomi’s finger drifted up her right shin, tracing the old path of agony that her fractured bone had once lit up like a burning city. She remembered what it was to be incautious with her mortal shell. The pain had been a lesson relearned again and again.

Naomi was still mortal, despite the many godly blessings that had been carefully trained and laid upon her. Pain was still pain, death still death. She was lucky she had endured the former and merely tasted the latter. Her role had always been more than just her person. It was how she had kept it alive for so long and then, perfected it.

If she abused it and wasn’t very careful with it sometimes, that was the price her body paid for being inhabited by a creature of violence and sin, a whirlwind of martyrdom and murder. Something that had been too powerful and terrifying in a girl child’s body. So she had become a woman and the woman became a monster.

The smile of satisfaction turned a little savage and she closed her eyes, trying to imagine what Lord Yang Kum-ji looked liked and how his face would split with his screams and the blood vessels in his eyes would burst like red stars on white. The image wouldn’t sit right though with the changing faces and she set the musing to the side. She wouldn’t let her quarry interfere with her peace.

Looking up at her Lady’s domain, she recited the constellations and the lessons their stories taught to herself in quiet Belarusian, the wind sighing like a bored lover in her ear.

When she couldn’t see anymore stars to name sitting in the bowl of the crow’s nest she stood and cast her gaze out to the rolling black waters that reflected the moon’s gentle beams. Awa was a distant glow beyond the cliffs and the night tide turning the pale sand dark and Naomi was transported back for a moment to her mother, her wonderful mother, stroking her hair as her head rested against the older woman's knee. Naomi could smell the herbs that the beautiful Belarusian woman tucked into her knitting box and the achingly familiar scent of home on her mother’s skin.

Her hypnotizing voice spun out the ancient story of Bright Fox, who stood on a black sand beach and single handedly turned the_ Formiens _ back into the abyss they rose from at the beginning of the Third Age. Evil demigods who ripped a hole in the darkest pit of the sea to take the mountains from Her people. How she had defended her nation from a demonic army, but it exacted the highest cost. No one could now find that last battleground. The sea had swept in and Bright Fox was never seen again.

There was an olive tree planted in Bright Fox’s honor on the furthest point blessed Belarusia stretched into the sea, a place of great pilgrimage long ago. It was said that miracles, signs, and omens came with the shining shadow of a fox. But the black sand beach was gone and the soul that tree shared was held lovingly in the arms of the Lady of Seas. Belarusia survived, but Bright Fox never saw what happened afterwards. There had been many generations of peace and war before the Warlords began their awful conquest of the nation Bright Fox had died defending.

Naomi wondered if the monument to her people’s history and survival still stood clinging to that farthest point. Thinking otherwise would only break her heart.

The slap of the waves against the cliffside pulled her eyes from the dark, water sodden sand. Instantly, her mother was gone and she was a woman again, not a girl safe in her family’s care and responsible for nothing.

The old tale was strung like a battered tapestry though her mind. One of many tucked onto the dusty memory shelves that held her people’s history. All she had learned and absorbed from her early childhood and her mentors as she got older. A precious trove of knowledge that outlasted war, disease, famine, displacement, and death.

_ You remember the old stories? _

It rung through her like a gong- a deep, ancient voice that crashed through her being like a tidal wave. A different voice, full of raw divinity, than the one she was used to echoed in her soul.

The question stopped her dead and in her mind’s eye gazed upon the wealth of songs and stories and scripture that had been bestowed upon her.

_ The ancient tales of our people, the songs that shape the heart of our home... _

Naomi caught her breath. The words were gentle but in them she heard the shrieks of northern gales and the deathly silence of doldrums. It had been a long, long time since these voices had spoken so clearly to the exiled young Belarusian. It was enough to make her vision shake and her knees wobble.

The brush of feathers around her shoulders and the cool strength that steadied her balance and cleared her head, also made the stars flare and dance as the Lady of Blessed Night set her impossible sword at Naomi’s back.

The Lady of Seas and Her husband, the Lord of the Four Winds, murmured and laughed as they waited for the young mortal to recenter herself, the sea humming sweet songs that none in this kingdom had ever heard. Songs that tugged at her lower belly and made her want to sway. The wind toyed with the piece of narrow red linen that hung from the top of the mast and counterpointed His wife’s song with creak of wood and the snap of the flag.

As Naomi’s head cleared her mouth twisted in a wry smile. Her prayers had certainly invited more meddling than she had expected.

A moment arrived, when the girl took a deep inhale, that the waves seemed to stop their slow rippling and the wind ceased-and there was only stillness all around her. Only the stars continued to wink in and out, dancing unfettered because the Lady already knew her answer.

“I remember everything.” The Lord and Lady’s silence drank in the bittersweet sigh those words rode on, tasting the truth and sorrow. The next moment the wind drifted across her skin again, but this touch was warm and soft- a summer breeze at sea that smelled of Belarusian wildflowers.

_ What was her name? _

Her name? Who’s name? The wind whispered, but gave no answer.

_ Her name, her name, her name… _

The song of the sea turned mournful. Her waves pounded on the pale cliffs, frustrated and sad. _ What was her name? Her name, what was her name? _

For one who had just said she remembered everything, Naomi felt very sure she knew nothing. What name did the Gods demand? She only had her own.

Brightness come and gone, and the touch of fur rubbing against the back of her calves. Who’s name had been forgotten to time and her story so important? What name didn’t Naomi know?

“Bright Fox.” Naomi whispered, knowing that a legacy isn’t a name. No one had lived to tell what her fate had been and those that had known her were long gone and had never recorded. Her ancestors had never believed that there might come a day when the wise men and women that kept the oral tradition alive would be hunted down and killed for their prodigious memory and their key role in Belarusian society. Their faces were once a Warlord’s favorite trophy collection.

_ Her name, her name… _

“Her name was lost and I do not know it. I don't even know if her grave still stands. Her story is old and passed down far. We have lost so much that I don’t know if I’ll ever learn her name.” Tears pricked her eyes, a mortal sorrow to match the divine. _ How could we lose so much? _ Naomi wanted to ask her weakened deities, but she could never be so disrespectful with Them listening so closely and already perfectly primed for a furious storm that could wreck the ship underneath her.

All Belarusians had learned to deal with pain and loss. The Gods were no exception.

_ What do you know of being forgotten, young one? _

_ What do you know of age and pain and memory? _

_ What do you know of legends and how they survive? _

Naomi thought about what she knew, only her Lady’s powerful presence allowing her to remain standing as three celestial beings sought to lecture her. All in all, it was looking like a rough day from start to finish and a part of her wished she could wave a white flag on the weird difficulties of the day and go have a good sleep.

But her soul was steeped in godly attention and this was not an idle peace she was claiming anymore. There was something she wasn’t hearing.

“What I know is little, but it is true. It is long, hard work being a part of this world, and longer, harder work to change it- but if it’s worth it, no price is too steep. The steeper the price and the more frightening the opposition... the longer the tale lasts.” Bright Fox’s enemy was terrifying and truly no one knows how steep the price was, but knowing how long this story had existed, Naomi wasn’t sure she wanted to know the price the woman had paid on that beach. It must have been terrible.

The ocean thrashed restlessly, but Naomi could still smell wildflowers and wasn’t afraid. She thought about prices and payment and worth. Like a merchant looking at old records and finding smudged ink, but the newer records were all precisely documented. Naomi’s accounts were written in blood, the careful compilations of atrocities committed by and against her people. If she were every blessed enough to learn Bright Fox’s name, she would use her own blood to fill in the gaps history left in the records.

That name would ring across the mountains once more and perhaps the Lady of Seas would give back the black sand beach for another brave Belarusian girl to discover, knowing the story of her ancestor and the price she paid to save her home.

The Lady of Blessed Night smiled and Naomi felt Her hands on her shoulders. _ Perhaps you are almost ready then... _

The words sounded strange, but already she could feel the waning attention of the Lady of Seas and her Lord. Long after their attention had left her, the Dark Lady’s feathers continued to brush along her senses as she meditated and prayed. The bone handle of her dagger grew warm as she held it and talked to her Master of gods, heroes, and monsters. Of account books and legacies.

Her mind always knew him well enough to fill in his side of the conversation, but she felt a physical ache when she asked him if he could be real for just one moment to hold her and to tell her not to worry that Gods were keeping an eye on her and she was a pirate in enemy territory. For one moment, could he be real enough to stop the droplets slowly falling into the tiny pool of dread beneath her sternum. It always hurt to hear him have to remind her that he was dead and could not hold her again. That if he could he would, because there was something making her frightened and he couldn't save her from it; but he had died years ago and she had learned how to face these fights alone.

What was she almost ready for?

“Onee-chan! Where are you?” Yona’s call cut through the night and for a heartbeat, she considered not replying to keep her reigning peace high in the sky.

But after her very intense encounter, Naomi was craving the mortal and mundane more than peace and silence.

“Up here.” She called over the side, taking one last breath of free air in before descending to where she could see her heart standing on the deck looking dainty and bright in the dim lantern glow.

“The Captain has called a meeting. She wants you there to help with the planning.” As agile as a rigger, Naomi climbed down from the crow’s nest and joined Yona on the deck. “Shall we?” The older of the two women asked as they clasped hands and went to the dining room where every member of the pirate crew was crammed in.

Naomi carefully wove her way in till she stood next to Captain Gi-gan who looked hard as a mountain face. There was a fear scent in the room and Naomi felt herself shift into the cold space in her heart that Master Hiro had trained into her.

In that place, she was the Master of the Dance, as hard and sharp as the blade at her side.

The Captain nodded at her and began. “Kum-ji is strengthening his forces. It’s probably because his most important deal is coming up… with the Kai Empire.” The old woman said, pointing to the Empire on her map.

The red haired assassin didn’t flinch, but her eyebrow rose and fell in a sharp gesture.

_ Of course, it’s with the Empire, curse them all to a bloody end. _

“The Kai Empire?” Yona asked confused, standing beside Yoon and Naomi.

“Just with a group near Awa, actually. They’re one of Kum-ji’s regular trading partners.”

Hak looked at the women when he heard a crackling pop as Naomi’s hand tightened on the bone handle of her long dagger. She had a very bad feeling about all of this.

“What makes the deal so important?” Yona asked, truly unsure of why it would be so important. Naomi knew. Of course she knew.

Captain Gi-gan took a long pull off of her pipe and gazed at the innocent Yona and the too-knowledgeable Naomi.

Yona’s face transformed into shock and horror as the Captain spoke and Naomi’s already bleak face became desolate.

“It’s human trafficking.”

The feeling in the room deepened from horror to quiet fury.

“Human… trafficking…” Yona said, not sure if she had heard correctly. It was too terrible for her to comprehend, for someone to sell human beings like livestock.

Naomi’s eyes flashed around the room and found a mix of expressions. It was a painful reality, to be sure, that there were people out there who saw other people as a way of making money. Yet they couldn’t know the truth behind it. The truth of what lay at the heart of trafficking and the horrors that could be found inside it.

“Mostly women and children.” Jae-ha said, unable to look at the two red haired women who stood across the table from him.

Yoon, who stood between Naomi and Yona, protested, “But slavery is illegal in this country.”

Naomi laughed bitterly.

All eyes swung to her and saw the frightening smile and the queer glittering eyes.

“Illegal and immoral it may be, but that has never stopped any of them before.”

How could she look so beautiful with that horrifying expression, the pirates thought.

The Captain nodded, not looking at the assassin, but at her crew.

“That is not their only goal. With the forces they’ve gathered, they intend to crush us, the pirates who have opposed them for years.” 

Naomi mentally slapped herself. _ Focus you idiot, there are other things at stake here besides your bloody sanity. You’re not the only one here who has a stake in this. Everyone here has suffered or they wouldn’t be here at all. Pull yourself together woman, so you can help them. _

“Let’s hit them first.” One of the more agitated pirates said, holding a fist up.

Naomi almost said something, but the Captain did it faster and better.

“Don’t be hasty. If we start a brawl at Awa Port, then the residents will be caught in the crossfire. We will attack Kum-ji’s ships here,” Captain Gi-gan snapped her pipe down at a spot between the Kai Empire and the port city. Open ocean, plenty of space to maneuver and if they timed it right, they’d have the wind with them.

Naomi stared at the map, her mind racing with tactical decisions using all the tricks she’d been taught on nautical warfare.

“The question is when, and how, they’ll act and which of the ships the women will be on.” Jae-ha said, his brow furrowing.

It was a good question. It would be hard to coordinate an attack and a rescue all at the same time when those who needed rescuing would become hostages in an instant.

The Captain echoed Naomi’s thoughts and Naomi bent her thoughts and her knowledge to that problem.

The cargo was the most important thing. The women who, if they failed, would suffer more than anyone.

Another pirate pointed out that dealing with Kum-ji first might be the ideal course of action. Naomi shook her head before he had finished.

“If this deal is so important, yes, he will be there, but he knows that we will try and stop him. He’ll have contingency plans for if we get to him before the deal goes down. We know they’ll travel by ship, but as of right now, if we try and take out Kum-ji, they’ll shift plans and we’ll lose those girls. We know so little as is. If it were only Kum-ji, I would take him out now, but I don’t know who he has entrusted with his back up plans. I can’t ensure those girls’ safety until I know. Right now, this plan is our best bet.”

Captain Gi-gan tapped out her pipe and nodded. “We need more information… As Yami said, this is our best opportunity.”

The old woman took out a worn dagger and pulled it from its sheath.

“We will beat down Yang Kum-ji and the officers who have oppressed the people of Awa and corrupted this town for more than ten years, no matter what it takes. We will restore freedom to this town,” Captain Gi-gan stabbed the map in the place where the battle would take place, “This time, I too will take up my blades.”

Old and annoying as she was, Naomi couldn’t help, but find this irritating woman inspiring.

“Stick with me to the very end, kids!”

The crew cheered and the pool of dread shrunk a bit. Yona looked at the Captain admiringly and Naomi wondered if one day, she would stay side by side with her Princess as she inspired nations to follow her.

Like she had Hak, Yoon and the dragons, not to mention herself. Even the Gods seemed to find the little Princess interesting enough to follow to the end.

All they had to do till then… was endure.

* * *

Waiting was always the worst.

The Lady demanded patience from Her most impatient daughter and Naomi felt she would scream if she didn’t do something.

She performed the full Rigmar with utter perfection which only ate up two hours of her day. She wasn’t interested in teaching the pirates anymore than she already had so she found herself drawn away from camp, vanishing as if a spirit.

Preparations were well underway for the battle to come and Naomi wandered aimlessly around the cliffsides, thinking and planning as much as she could. She could almost feel her Master’s approval. For once, she was trying to plan ahead.

How could she not when so much depended on this battle?

Sure, she was fine to wing it when it was just her plunging into the fray. She’d been trained to handle situations with calm, poise and often times, a garrote wire, but this time, it wasn’t a simple hit.

People she cared about were going to fight in this battle. This wasn’t a problem she could simply solve with a quick knife in the dark.

She had to plan and plan and plan until she was prepared for all eventualities and she could keep her people safe. Her family, all the pirates, and the women who were counting on them.

No sacrifices.

She sat on the cliffside, gazing to where the battle would take place, wheels turning in her mind. Her knowledge of nautical warfare was rather limited, having been raised in the mountains. Her people had once had major port cities, but the Warlords controlled all of them now. Her Master had some experience that he passed down to her, but never had she put it into practice.

Warfare wasn’t exactly an assassin’s forte. She was no general nor battle commander. She was just a single blade with a very specific skill set. Skills that currently were of very little use to her.

The thought of the wind and tides and the things that made up a naval battle. Things that she had no control over. What did she have control over?

_ Myself. My mind. My blades. _

She sat down and pulled out her whetstone. She spat on it and pulled out one of her short swords to sharpen it. Something she had control over, yes. The movement and purpose helped to calm her racing thoughts.

She hated waiting.

When she finally wandered back to camp after every blade on her person was sharp enough to cut the wind, she was comforted in knowing that she hadn’t been missed. She stole into camp, taking a bowl of Yoon’s seafood stew and then disappearing once more to a place where she could watch everything.

Naomi smiled as she ate the fantastic meal, knowing that she’d at least be able to hold it down while she was still on land.

It was warm, delicious and Naomi consumed it entirely, blessing her lovely boy and his housewife skills. As she bathed in the afternoon sun, she felt her mind still with the pleasant feeling of being warm and full and for the moment, safe.

There was a whistling high above her and she cracked her eyes open to see the Old Man soaring through the air. She smiled up at him till she saw his passenger to which she yelped in surprise.

She groaned and cracked her joints before watching the two land amid the pirate crew. Everyone gathered around to hear the news and she went to go hear what Jae-ha had learned from his time in the town.

_ I’d love to try flying sometime _, she thought idly, imagining what it would be like to be that high in the air.

She slipped into the crowd, some of the men flinching when she seemingly appeared out of thin air. It made her grin.

She wove her way through till she reached Hak’s side and she smiled up at her large brother who looked down and snorted. “Where have you been all day?”

Naomi shrugged. “Plotting, naturally.”

He chuckled darkly.

“Well now they’re really in trouble.”

She nodded and turned her ears to Jae-ha who was reporting.

“Captain, they’ll probably act the night of the day after tomorrow.” The green haired man said with that smug smile.

_ Excellent, now I have a timeframe to work with _, Naomi thought, part of her brain turning back to wind, tide, and timing.

“What makes you say so?” Captain Gi-gan said, smoking her pipe carelessly, but her eyes were gleaming with that predatory light that Naomi had come to enjoy.

“I found a store gathering people to sell.” Jae-ha said nonchalantly, but Naomi knew he was furious by the set of his shoulders. “On the surface, it offers high paying jobs to women, but actually it’s a place that transports women who they think will sell high.”

Hak didn’t notice how Naomi’s skin turned sheet white.

“I asked someone to ask an employee about it. They told him it was a place for young women wanting work, and when he asked how much longer they would be hiring for the employee said it will be until noon of the day after tomorrow.”

_ So we have three days at least, to figure out a solid plan of action. _

“Kum-ji is greedy. If there are quality goods, he’ll wait until the very last minute. In other words, he’ll make the deal on this day and send his ships after dark.”

_ Yes, he is greedy. He’ll want to provide as many new slaves as he can to the buyers from the Empire. He can’t wait too much longer or else they might start haggling new prices for the wait. The citizens of the Empire love to make deals. _

“But we don’t know which ship the women will be on.” Gi-gan pointed out.

Yona went still and the Rock of Foreboding sank in Naomi’s stomach as she spoke.

“If something like a firework is fired from the boat the women are on will we be able to rescue them faster?”

The Captain considered this.

“That may work. But who will fire it?”

Naomi tensed.

“I will.” The Princess said firmly.

_ No. _

“I’ll infiltrate the ship and set off the firework.”

_ No, no. You can’t do that. _

“Yona…” Jae-ha started to protest.

“Other than bringing down Kum-ji the goal this time is to save the women being sold right? We need to quickly find the boat they are on and take them to a safe place. To do that, I’ll sneak onto the ship and tell you where they are.” Yona said, perfectly reasonable in her argument.

Naomi couldn’t believe that Captain Gi-gan looked like she was considering the idea.

_ No, no, no. I will not let you do this. _

The men of their little family started arguing against it, bless them, but Naomi was rooted to the spot.

The idea… of her most precious person… in the hands of a man like Kum-ji… the men of the Empire…

Yona had no idea what she was asking to do. She couldn’t know.

“We don’t have time to search every ship. If the women reach the Kai Empire while we fight, it will be too late. I’m the only one who can sneak on with the women to secure their safety right?”

Yona faced the Captain and fixed her with that bottomless fire-filled stare that could bring a person to their knees. “Captain Gi-gan, let me fight with you.”

The air seemed to evaporate from Naomi’s lungs as she watched the Captain think, a smile forming on her lips. The Captain liked this intent side of Yona.

Before the old woman could speak, Naomi found her voice.

“Absolutely not.” She snarled, barely sounding human anymore.

Yona whipped around as if Naomi had struck her and the others looked at the little assassin in surprise. She had been so still, most of them had forgotten she was there.

“Onee-chan…”

“No!”

Naomi grabbed hold of Yona’s shoulders with bruising forces, heedless of the stares that hung on the two of them, “You will not do this thing, Yona, do you understand me?”

Even Hak seemed shocked at the savagery of the woman’s response.

“But… Naomi… you said I was strong enough to do anything! I can do this!”

The bloody haired woman’s hands tightened and her eyes dilated in a way that made Yona think that her sister had tossed her sanity away.

“You are so strong, little sister, but this is entirely different. Climbing down a cliffside with Jae-ha watching over you is not handing yourself over to men who perform cruelties that you can’t even begin to dream of!”

Her breathing was uneven and she knew her hands were too tight but she _ needed _ Yona to understand why she _ couldn’t _ do this.

“But-”

“No! No if, ands, or buts! _You don’t know what these men are capable of!_ You don’t know the kinds of scars they can leave on your flesh and soul! I know! I know what it is to be a _ slave _ of the Kaitai Empire and I will never let you fall into their hands, never! If you love me at all, you will not do this thing.”

Naomi was shaking Yona back and forth and Kija stepped forward to stop Naomi, but before he could touch her she flinched away, shivering and holding herself tightly.

Memories, all the memories of those years she had hidden away, came bubbling to the surface like a black geyser of despair. The pages of her personal account books dripping red into a puddle on the floor. For all the blood to stain those pages, all the countless lives she took and terrible things she did and kept tally of, there were long pages written documenting all the terrible things done to her and taken from her- those were the pages dripping red onto the floor of her mind.

And they could all see it. There was no hiding what she had freely admitted.

Even Captain Gi-gan was rendered speechless by the outburst. It was not anything anyone would have thought.

_ Yami the Ripper, most feared assassin on the continent… a slave? _

“What if we fail? What if you end up in the Empire and you end up sold to one of the High Houses? They are impregnable fortresses that take armies to storm and no one is going to care about a pretty slave, they never care. You’ll be broken before we could ever mount a rescue, they have it down to an art! You will not risk yourself this way, you will not hand yourself over to these men and if you try, I will truss you up in so many restraints,_ it will take the Gods themselves to untie you! _”

Naomi was screaming by this time, her words almost unintelligible and her face a twisted mask of pain.

A single sparkling tear made its way down her paper white cheeks.

Shin-Ah couldn’t hide that tear. Everyone watched it mark its path down to her chin.

She dashed it away with one hand, but when Jae-ha stepped forward to try and comfort her, she found herself running. Running as fast as she could away from all of them.

Drip, drip, drip. Puddles growing bigger.

They knew she had been a slave. They didn’t know what it was _ to be _ a slave though. They didn’t know how they had used her, abused her, tortured her and brutalized her till she was so broken that they had left the gates unlocked and she still hadn’t tried to flee.

There were no more brave young women in blessed Belarusia.

She was lucky. More than lucky to have escaped her fate there.

To see the person she cared about more than anything willfully going to that fate…

It was more than Naomi could bear.

_ I never should have come to this place, I never should have trusted these people , never should have gotten involved… _

All her plans were up in smoke and her mind was wild with fear. Not even fear for herself. She feared for Yona and for the women who even now were being held against their will, forced into servitude.

_ At least I chose my fate… _

When she was far enough away that she knew no one would hear her, Naomi let out a scream. The one that had been slowly building in her chest since the moment they had come to Awa Port.

It sounded like a battle cry and a plea for help.

The Gods were silent and watchful as Naomi unleashed everything she had pent up over eleven long years.

When it was gone, she felt hollow. The Lady never did give idle warnings.

_ I do not want this. I did not choose this. I swore I would never go back to being a slave ever again… _

An old taunt reared in her mind.

_Once a slave, always a slave._

Naomi knew what she had to do.

* * *

It was dark by the time Naomi returned to the camp, silent as a ghost.

Her things were all packed away in her bag and she had prepared herself as best she could.

She slipped amongst the strewn bodies, carefully finding her family.

Naomi caressed and kissed them one last time, knowing that if she failed, she would never see them again.

She wouldn’t fail… but just in case.

The young woman trailed her fingers across Yona’s cheeks, wishing she could take back her last words. Wishing that all of them could forget what she had said and be confident in her decision.

“Please don’t be upset with me, little sister. I’m doing this for all of us. They can’t hurt me. I know how to play this game. As long as you are safe, so am I.”

It hurt to leave her, but she knew she couldn’t stay. She had to be gone quickly.

She said her goodbyes, lingering as long as she dared.

Shin-Ah was especially hard to leave.

She kissed his forehead and gently ran her fingers through his hair, “I’m so sorry, Shin-Ah. I wish I had time to tell you, but I’m afraid you would understand too well. There are too many things I wish I would have done... ”

She pressed her forehead to his shoulder, inhaling his scent and closing her eyes.

“Watch out for my things,” Naomi tucked her bag against his back, “And if I don’t come back, please… don’t keep your promise… don’t come find me…”

She knew that if she didn’t come back, if she ended up in the High House of Arda once more, that she would find her Lady sooner than she’d expected.

Those bastards would never have her again. She would make sure of it.

For Hak she had no words. He already knew everything she would’ve said to him.

She even said goodbye to Jae-ha, whom she had become passing fond of. She wished that they had had more time to know each other, even if he did drive her mad. She hoped that he would choose to follow Yona in the end.

She vanished from the camp, her skirt flaring in the wind. She had gotten to the rise before the city when something stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Naomi.”

Heart pounding, she turned and felt the wind run playful fingers up her bare calves.

“Shin-Ah.”

_ How did he catch up to me so fast? _

_ Is he going to try and stop me? _

_ Why did he come? _

It had seemed for a day or so, he had been avoiding her studiously, helping to train the pirates or watching the ships at harbor. She had wondered, but hadn’t the courage to ask him about it. And now, here he was reaching out to her entreatingly.

She found herself clinging to him, burying her face in his chest. She was afraid. Afraid that she would never see him or any of the others again. If she failed…

He tossed his mask away and his eyes feasted on her face hungrily.

She had touches of kohl around her luminous eyes and light rouge on her lips. The sky blue dress was demure, but somehow she still looked utterly sinful in it.

Lastly, her hair was in a loose braid so she looked just like any other farm girl if those farm girls looked like fallen angels.

She looked into his eyes like they were the only things that made sense in that moment and knew that she was utterly lost to them. The eyes of a Dragon, full of unwieldy power that nipped and tugged at her playfully. Eyes that understood her far better than anyone had in years.

He held her tight as she trembled in his embrace. He pressed his lips to her hair not sure if he could let her say goodbye to him.

“Shin-Ah, I…” She tried to speak, but he put a finger to her lips, turning it into a caress as he pulled her head closer to him.

“You are everything that makes this world right, Naomi. Don’t ask me to abandon you.” He whispered, lips to her hair with one arm around her waist and the other hand holding her head close to his heart.

She fisted her hands in his robe and tried to speak again, but found she didn’t have the right words to thank him for caring about her so much. What were words?

Naomi pulled her head back and looked him full in the face silvered and shadowed in the moonlight that illuminated the two lone figures, knowing that if she didn’t do it, she would regret it forever.

She carefully ran her tongue over her lips and stretched on her tiptoes, her arms wrapping around his strong neck. His hands rested on the curve of her back, hesitantly pulling her close, feeling the way their bodies molded to each other.

If she was going to punishment or paradise, she was determined to do so with the taste of him on her lips and his words in her heart.

He tilted his chin down and she saw the wide cast of his slitted pupils and the throb of his pulse in the hollow of his throat. She couldn’t look away from the glittering gold, half mesmerized by the raw beauty of him, and he hesitated as his tongue probed his fangs. Naomi saw it through his partially open lips and almost toppled over. Shin-Ah started to speak, but she didn’t give him the chance.

The girl couldn’t have stopped herself if she’d tried.

She pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his, keeping herself well under control.

He inhaled quickly, but sighed slowly through his nose as the feel of her fogged his mind, her kiss and hands cradling him gently. Her lips were impossibly soft and sweet against his and the smell of her…

Apples and cherry blossoms, blood and steel. Sweet and sharp and intoxicating as any drug.

New sensations raced through his mind as he etched every detail of her into his heart.

He wanted more. He wanted so much more from her.

Naomi was surprised when she felt his tongue gently touch her lips. Almost sighing in relief, she opened her mouth and deepened the kiss- that delicious, wonderful, secret first kiss.

He was inexperienced, but slowly she used lips and tongue to guide him and he picked up the concept pretty quick. He blessed her for her patience and savored the bittersweet lesson. She adored him for it.

Other men had kissed her hard, kissed her wanting, kissed her desperately.

Shin-Ah kissed her like nothing else in the world mattered. Like he could kiss her forever and never get tired of the taste. And when Shin-Ah’s fingers tightened on her waist because his fangs had pricked her tongue, she knew she had lit a fire in his veins that would burn bright enough to match hers. She was one step away from having him utterly on this hill and a Dragon would kneel at her feet and worship her. They would set the cliffs on fire, burn the port and it’s darkness to the ground- and not give a damn about anything but each other.

He would give anything and she would take everything.

It would be glorious. She could taste it on his tongue, feel it in his taunt, quivering body. Naomi allowed herself to delight in it for only one treasured hidden moment. She pushed herself to her tiptoes, her hands caressing him tenderly. Shin-Ah could feel the regretful smile that curved the kiss of her lips and he forced himself to relax his arms, relax his shoulders and his back. The dragon focused on memorizing the feeling of having her to himself, holding her so gently, his face so close to hers he could feel her exhale roll across his cheek.

He knew he would remember this for the rest of his life.

Then it was done.

She eased back and let her lips linger on his for just one sweet moment longer before she came back down to Earth and remembered who she was and where she was going.

Shin-Ah rested his forehead against hers and tried to catch his breath.

A line of Belarusian slipped from her swollen lips like honey and she smiled that heartbreakingly beautiful smile that made his own heart skip a couple beats.

“Remember this,” she repeated the line, “And someday I’ll tell you what it means.”

He laughed and hugged her close, repeating the words with almost perfect inflection.

“Yes, just like that.”

He murmured the words again as he rested his cheek in her head, just for good measure. Overwhelmed with tenderness and sorrow, she buried her face in his neck, the fur of his coat soft against her cheek.

Silence passed between them, but they both knew it was more than silence.

As much as she loathed to break it, her time was running out.

“Shin-Ah… I’ll be alright. I know what to do. But if something happens...” She whispered fearfully. She didn’t want to be a slave and she didn’t want to die. She wasn’t ready to face the Lady yet.

His arms tightened around her momentarily.

_ No matter how far or dark. I will find you. _

“You be careful out on the water, you hear me? No one gets hurt, Shin-Ah. We all come out of this, okay?” Her voice broke and she held him tightly until she swallowed away her heartache and fear. She stepped away from him and turned toward Awa Port. Letting her go felt wrong and terrible to the young man, but clinging to her would only make whatever trial Naomi was determined to face more difficult. Shin-Ah trusted the resourceful, powerful killer that she was and tucked away his fear for the woman where it could chew on him later.

“I’ll see you soon, Seiryuu.” She said gently, turning to smile over her shoulder before she began striding away, letting the smile fall from her face. “... I hope.”

The Lady of Blessed Night fluttered her wings in Naomi’s soul, a promise of watchfulness. Her blessings warmed Naomi’s body and steadied her steps as she went.

She could still taste him on her lips and see those eyes reflect her own. She prayed she would see those eyes again.

_ He will come for me. I will look into his eyes again and tell him what that sentence means. It will be dark and far, but he will come for me. He will come. _

* * *

“Hello, I heard that I could find a job here?”

“Yes! Welcome, miss…?”

“Yamika. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Where are you from, Miss Yamika? I’ve never seen you here in Awa Port.”

“No sir, I just moved here from my family farm after my Father died a few weeks ago.”

“Well, jobs here are very competitive, but if you’ll step this way I’ll go set up your interview.”

“Thank you so much, sir. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

_ The man grinned as he led the gorgeous woman into the back room. _

_ What a prime stock! _

_ For the price she would fetch, they’d be set for life. _

_ Just a simple farm girl looking to make her way in life, huh? _

_ With looks like that, it’d be a damned shame for her to become just another fishmongers wife. A true shame. _

_ She’ll be a jewel in a High House harem for sure and they’ll pay top dollar to have her at their beck and call for a night. _

_ As he closed the door on her, he gave himself over to the fantasies the woman inspired. Awful, horrible, pleasurable fantasies. _

_ Those Kai bastards were lucky men. _

Inside the little room, Naomi grit her teeth and rubbed away the goosebumps that rose on her arms. She closed her eyes and pretended that she was doing this to kill someone. Just another hit, simple and easy.

She would find the women and get them out. Simple. Easy.

She had to tell herself that.

Naomi felt a tremor in the floor and began to count, concentrating on using all her senses.

_ 3… 2… 1… _

The floor dropped beneath her just after she leaped into the air and Naomi found herself falling down a dark tunnel.

It reminded her of Seiryuu village and she clenched her eyes shut against the flash of fear it caused.

The floor came up sooner than she expected, but with her customary grace, she landed lightly with her knees bending slightly to absorb the impact. She watched the floor above her close up and took a deep breath. She knew what was to come.

When the guards came she put up no fight, allowing herself to be blindfolded and bound as docile as a lamb. She kept her mind blank as they threw her in the back of a carriage and drove her to what she assumed would be their compound.

She did nothing when the leering guards ran their hands over her body, taking the tiny poniard knife from between her breasts before shoving her unceremoniously into a tiny room filled with women.

No one helped her untie herself, but Naomi had deft fingers and much practice in freeing herself. Once her wrists were free, she ripped the blindfold off and threw it to the floor.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim lighting in the tiny, cramped room.

Dozens of wide fearful eyes gazed at her with despair coloring their faces.

Naomi looked around and marked her new battlefield.

The air smelled like desperation and fear. A familiar childhood smell.

She looked at the room of lovely frightened girls and smiled sweetly.

"Hello, ladies. My name is Yami and I've come to set you free."


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Trigger Warning*** The themes of sexual abuse in this chapter may be disturbing for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

* * *

The women who had been stolen had finally gotten over their confusion.

It had taken a while, but they understood that Naomi had gotten herself captured for a reason. They couldn’t understand why any sane woman would walk willingly into a trap, but the look in her eyes made them all question just how sane she was.

Fight? Against Lord Yang Kum-ji?

Clearly, this stunning woman was absolutely mad.

But as she carefully wove her way through the crowd of women, systematically treating their most obvious injuries, they thought maybe her insanity wasn’t so bad.

She talked with them quietly, reassuring them that there were people out there who cared.

Though outwardly, Naomi was calm and confident, on the inside she was numb with terror. The youngest was barely fifteen years of age and the girl had clung to her waist crying when she had carefully probed the bruise on her cheek that the officer that guarded them had given her.

If she failed, Naomi knew what her fate would be.

And knew all too well that many of them would not survive if the Kaitai Empire got a hold of them.

She battled despair with hope and fear with strength, the other girls’ and her own.

With all her might, she held onto the promises she had made and those that had been made to her. Memories of the seraglio crawled up from the darkness, but she forced them away with the memories of her family, new and old.

_ Yona’s laughter and bravery, the firelight on her Mother’s skin as she danced, Yoon stumbling through Belarusian poetry determined and delighted, Hak’s arrogant battle grin as they fought, wrestling with Kija as he teased her, punching Jae-ha to end their arguments, hugging Tae-yeon, playing with Natsuko on a clear summer day, holding Rin as she sang to him, running her fingers through Soo-won’s hair, her Father swinging her onto his shoulders, Master Hiro teaching her to dance, Shin-Ah chasing away her nightmares, Ik-soo smearing blood across her forehead in blessing, the Lady of Blessed Night smiling in her soul. _

You have to fight, she would murmur to the girls who shuddered and wept to themselves. You can’t win if you don’t fight, she would say to the women who already had that dead look of abandonment in their eyes.

No one is coming, they would tell her, no one cares.

Hours passed and she talked herself hoarse, giving what little aid she could, be it physically or mentally.

There are people who are coming for us... we will not be forgotten, she said over and over till they began to believe it.

The women held fast to Naomi’s words, giving her the last crumb of hope they held onto for themselves.

I won’t let anything bad happen to you, she told them.

She seemed so sure.

_ He will come for me. I know he will. I must keep them safe until we are rescued. _

There were girl’s asleep on her, heads pillowed on her lap when the door opened once more and two pretty young girls were shoved inside by one of the rougher guards.

_ Oh by all the Gods, how… _

She recognized Yona instantly, dressed up nicely and the other… who knew Yoon would make such a beautiful young woman?

They didn’t see her, covered in girls as she was, as still as a statue. 

Yona winced as she sat up and pulled her skirt up slightly, enough to see her bruised and swollen ankle.

“Are you okay?” Yoon asked gazing at the injury fearfully, “It’s sprained. You hurt your leg when you fell.”

A sprained ankle.

Naomi wanted to howl.

_ What are they doing in a place like this? _

There were footsteps in the hallway and all the girls flinched, even the ones who were asleep in Naomi’s lap.

They were heavy footsteps and a cold pit formed in Naomi’s stomach as she guessed who they belonged to.

The door swung open and a broad figure filled the doorway.

He had the look of a beast, with a wide face covered by a thick bristle beard and mustache the same dark brown as his hair. His narrow, predatory eyes roamed the room, settling on Yoon and Yona.

His rough voice matched the look in his dark eyes.

“I see… you’re all excellent. Awa still has some value left in it.”

His rough chuckle reminded her of many thousands that she’d heard before the pain had come. He was a sadistic brute and Naomi was terrified of him.

His eyes found Yona and his meaty hand wrapped in her short hair and he pulled her to her good foot.

“Red hair… unusual indeed,” He said almost licking his lips, “Your face isn’t half bad either. I almost regret having to sell you.”

Naomi felt wings flutter in her soul and there was a feeling of almost regret that trickled in from the divine.

“With so many excellent goods, keeping one for myself would be no great loss.”

Naomi’s trembling hand found the tail of her braid and she unbound it with quick fingers, letting it loose down her back.

Yoon tried to turn the disgusting man’s attention to himself, the sweet brave boy, but men like Kum-ji were all alike. They liked to hurt other people.

Yoon got a boot to his stomach for his insolent speech and Yona writhed in the large man’s grip.

There was a word that Naomi knew for what she did when she was a child. Even then the Gods spoke to her and gave it to her like a gift. It was hard to translate into the Koukan dialect.

_ Uhrata _.

Naomi stood from her space in the corner and gliding forward, fear disappearing for a moment as she once again heard the word the Gods of Belarusia gifted to their beloved child.

Yang Kum-ji ground his boot on Yoon’s head and laughed.

“The best women are obedient women. If you tremble and keep your mouth shut like this little girl-” He looked into Yona’s eyes and flinched away, dropping her as carelessly as he had struck Yoon and the guard who had dared interrupt his Lord.

Naomi didn’t know what had been in Yona’s eyes that had caused the evil Lord to pale like that, but she knew a cue when she saw one.

He reached for Yona, ready to drag her away when the fallen angel caught his eye.

“My Lord…” She said with none of her original accent coming through, going to her knees before him. “Please… not my sister. I’ll do anything for you if you leave her be.”

She let the seduction that was her blessing unfurl inside her like a fragrant flower.

The Lord’s eyes glazed, but something else was there. A half recognition when he glanced at Yona from the corner of his eye.

“Your sister? You are from Awa?”

Yona was now staring at Naomi, disbelief written across her face.

“No, my Lord. Our father was a farmer from the mountains. I brought her here to make a new home. She’s all I have left, my Lord, please.” The lie and the truth tumbling from her lips, her throat closing with tears.

“Are you sure that this girl is your sister… and not that red haired Princess I once saw in Hiryuu castle?” He growled at Naomi, taking slow heavy steps toward the kneeling woman.

_ He’s seen the Princess before? _

Naomi’s heart pounded and she prayed that she was still as good as she had been years ago.

“No, my Lord. She is my little sister. We are just poor farmer’s daughters. We came here looking for work.”

He finally stopped looking at Yona and fixed his eyes on the kneeling Naomi, who trembled before him like an offering.

“Please, my Lord. I’ll do anything.”

Her blessing curled around him artfully, hazing his mind till he only saw her.

Not even the other women distracted him from her riveting face and lush body, framed by that cascade of red hair. Hair like fresh blood against skin white as snow with fear. He could almost taste it on her.

His hand wrapped around her throat and she grunted at the pressure of his hard fingers.

Yona tried to say something, but Yoon put his hand over her mouth, eyes glistening with tears. He knew the word whispered in her soul. He’d read it in the poetry she had given him. And though he wanted to weep for it, he let his beloved older sister make her gamble.

“I will keep one of my prizes from Awa. Why not the best? Who knew a poor farmer would have a daughter that looked like you. Your sister a princess? Bah. But you… you’re fit for a King.” He eased his grip on her throat and ran his thumb along her jawline, reveling in how she shuddered at his touch.

He pulled her close and ran a hand over her curves. “Oh how you will scream for me, little farm girl.”

Naomi tried to stifle a growl, but he read the defiance in her eyes easily. It made him smile. It would be great fun to break such a beauty.

“Obey me, or maybe everyone here deserves a lesson in obedience? They’ll learn soon enough what it means to serve properly.”

The soldiers that waited on their Lord grinned evilly, eyeing the girls in the room with undisguised lust. They wanted Kum-ji to let them have a taste of his power.

The defiance fled from Naomi’s eyes and she relaxed her body in defeat.

Kum-ji looked at his man who had finally stood up and stopped coughing. “Take her,” he commanded before striding through the doorway, stopping only once to sneer at the collection of horrified faces around him.

He relished in his power over them.

The man shoved Naomi towards the door, massaging his chest and taking out his anger at Kum-ji on the vulnerable female before him.

“Move!” He yelled, pushing Naomi again.

She pretended to stumble and went to the ground near Yoon and Yona who reached for her desperately.

Her arms went around them and she roughly kissed their cheeks, whispering to them harshly.

“Stick to the plan. I’ll do what I can to distract them. Don’t take any risks and make sure you get free_ no matter what _.”

Yona sobbed her agreeance when the man grabbed Naomi by her hair and dragged her to her feet.

"I told you. I won't let anything bad happen to you." She whispered as she walked one shaking step at a time toward the door. Women wept as she passed by them and their fingers touched the hem of her gown, almost in apology.

She crossed the threshold into the guards waiting arms with their grasping greedy hands.

She looked almost holy.

Naomi turned back at the last second, jerking her head free to look halfway at those she loved more than life itself. They saw half of the sweet smile that made them feel like all was right with the world and the apology in her dark blue eye before the door was closed behind her. They hadn’t seen the other half of her face, the one that was already awash with tears. She had hidden it from them with a turn of her chin, protecting them to the end from the truth.

Naomi knew what was coming and was afraid, yet she went anyways.

The air inside the room felt bitterly cold and Yona held herself shaking while Yoon just stared at the door.

There was a word in Belarusian that didn’t quite translate to Koukan well. It was so poignant, so earth shattering- and yet so utterly simple. The truest definition of martyrdom that had ever been found. 

Naomi had translated it once for him.

The word etched on the red haired assassins soul from years and years ago, a gift from the Gods who knew Their child’s purpose. It echoed in the divine, full of regret and sorrow.

Uhrata.

_ Sacrifice. _

* * *

**(***Trigger Warning: This is an important piece of Naomi's history, but there are graphic themes that are disturbing to some readers. Please read carefully with that in mind!***)**

_ “There is an art to it, little sister. If you wish to survive, you must learn it.” The willowy girl said to the beaten young child she bathed. The older girl took special care with this very special girl- knowing the family she came from, who she might have been, and how she came to this horrid place. _

_ Fury and hatred sparked in the little girl’s blue eyes, more striking for the splotches of bruised flesh covering her face. _

_ The tall young woman chuckled lightly, “Now don’t glare at me, sweet girl. You know I’m right.” _

_ Young Naomi knew she was. Kaiya was always right. The sixteen year old was wise beyond her years and even though Naomi often kept the older girl at arms length, she was grateful that Kaiya was there. _

_ The other girls were gone on their assignments or their punishments. It was only the two of them in the seraglio. _

_ “You’re a fighter. The spirit the Gods gifted you with is strong. But here, it will only cause you more pain. You have been here, what, three weeks? And already they have marked you as a good sport.” _

_ Although Kaiya had a soft, gentle voice she could be hard and cold as steel when she wanted to. _

_ “They will break you, little sister. They enjoy it. And if you do not learn the art of surrendering, they will kill you.” _

_ Little Naomi hunched over. “I’m already dead. Why do I care if they kill me or not?” _

_ Kaiya seized the little girl’s thin shoulders and shook her. _

_ “You dishonor your people with such words! Dead you are of no use! Life is full of possibilities if you choose to see them! You must fight,” Kaiya gentled her words when she saw the little girl’s lip begin to quiver, “If you do not fight, little sister, you cannot win. We win by living- to live, you must surrender. And in surrendering, we endure.” _

_ Kaiya wrapped her arms around Naomi in a rare embrace and kissed the tousle of wild curls on the girl’s head. For all her fierceness, she was only seven. _

_ “Be brave, little one. We are the Blood of the Mountains. We can endure. We will endure.” _

Naomi closed her eyes and willed her body to relax. She had to float away and leave the flesh behind. 

She could taste blood in her mouth from where she had bitten her tongue and she couldn’t see out of her left eye swollen as it was.

At least the pain was familiar. She had faced far worse, hadn’t she?

She remembered.

_ Naomi had been in the High House of Arda for a month before she was put on Auction. _

_ The older girls, the ones who had been there longest, had tried their best to prepare her, but they all knew that nothing could prepare the little seven year old for the horror that lay ahead. _

_ The Warlords had watched her the weeks she had been there, drooling over the prospects. There were four other girls who had been collected with Naomi and they all trembled as they were paraded before the buyers. _

_ They were poked and prodded, caressed and fondled till the Auction Master had called for the bidding. _

_ The other girls had cried, but not Naomi. She wanted to, but she was proud. She would not weep in front of these cruel men. _

_ She stood naked with the other girl, glaring into hard, lustful eyes. _

_ Then the Auction began for their virginities. _

_ Kaiya had explained that just this once, the House would collect payment for use. After that, she was free game for any Warlord who stayed there. Such was the way of the High Houses. _

_ Each girl was lovely as Belarusians tended to be. All had that unearthly beauty that their people were blessed and cursed with though childhood tempered it with its sweetness. _

_ It passed in a blur, Naomi standing as tall as she could and refusing to lower her eyes meekly like the other girls who only wept harder as the bidding went on. _

_ She was so focused on being brave, she barely heard her price. _

_ “500,000,000 lin for the wild eyed one!” _

_ That was the moment Naomi realized her worth in these people’s eyes. She had a number that defined her worth to the world and it made her furious. The men could see it in her eyes and only smiled wider. _

_ She had no idea why. _

_ Her ignorance lasted as long as it took for her buyer, a wiry balding Warlord with a permanent sneer, to yank her off the stage and throw her to the floor. _

_ It was a show. _

_ Naomi fought for as long as she could, but for all her fierceness, she was a terrified seven year old who had just been bought for a substantial amount of money. She was no match for him. _

_ The other Warlords whooped and hollered, calling encouragements to their fellow as he raped the little Belarusian girl in the middle of the Auction room floor. They had expected nothing less. _

_ Blood seeped onto the floor as Naomi’s childhood fled in a wash of red. _

_ She had told herself she wouldn’t cry in front of the Warlords. _

_ She did. She wept for the agony, for the humiliation and for the knowledge that something had been stolen from her that she would never get back. _

_ And when the rutting man commanded her to scream, Naomi screamed. _

Naomi’s wrists bled from where the ropes had cut into her skin. She’d give Kum-ji this: he was a good ex-sailor. She hadn’t yet figured out how to untie the knots he had bound her with. Not that she would try again.

Every time she did something that he took as defiance, his low voice would reach through the fog in her mind, reminding her that her little sister was as of yet untouched. If she didn’t behave, who knew what would happen to her precious person? To all the girls being taken to the ships docked in the harbor?

As much as she hated herself for the degradation, when Kum-ji had commanded her to be silent, she was silent, when he commanded to beg, she had begged, and when he commanded her to scream, Naomi had screamed.

_ Kaiya wept when Naomi had been returned to the seraglio, knowing what had happened to this most precious child. _

_ Blood splattered her face and spilled from her lips and there was a haunted look in her eyes. _

_ “They made me lick it up…” She had whispered, horrified and revolted by what had taken place after her ravishment. _

_ The Warlords had perfected the art of breaking one’s spirit, even a spirit as strong as the Akamine martyr girl. _

_ They had tortured her and laughed about it. They had been thoroughly gratified by her revulsion for the things they had made her do. _

_ Kaiya wept for her, but knew better than to try and touch her. _

_ Naomi had shrunk into herself, arms wrapped so tightly around her bruised body as if she could hold herself together if she held on tight enough. _

_ Blood crusted along her legs and she knew she had to wash herself, but she couldn’t find the energy to do anything, but sit there on the floor and shake. _

_ How did she survive for so long? Naomi thought wonderingly about Kaiya. Kaiya was one of the oldest girls there, having been collected when she was six. _

_ I will be like her, Naomi said to herself pulling on what was left of her inner strength to cease her shivering. _

_ She met Kaiya’s tear filled eyes and hardened herself as well as a seven year old could. _

_ “Teach me, Onee-san. Teach me to win.” _

It was an endless cycle. She wasn’t allowed to rest, was only given a mouthful of water if she did something Kum-ji liked. She couldn’t loosen the knots around her wrists and ankles enough to feel her appendages.

Her shoulders and hips ached and cramped, painfully and the only relief she got from that were the times that she was flipped to her knees and taken from behind like a hound takes a bitch. He shoved her face into the bed and muffled her cries in the dirty sheets.

Oh the things he did hurt, hurt, _ hurt _!

But the pain was sweetly familiar, the blood and the terror.

Like a childhood lullaby.

_ Naomi had broken. _

_ She knew it. Could feel it in her heart. _

_ The burning hatred and wildness that had been a part of her for three long years was banked to barely flickering embers. _

_ The Warlords had perfected the art of breaking a person’s spirit. Little Naomi had held on longer than most, but when Kaiya had been taken from her and the continuous abuse had grown worse, the fierce little Belarusian girl had finally bowed her head to her fate. _

_ She had tried her very best to learn how to surrender, but part of her still had continued to stoked the fires of rebellion. Kaiya had despaired of Naomi’s fate as the patrons of the High House continued in their dark relentless desire for this special girl child. Kaiya did not have the power to protect her and the one time that she tried... _

_ It had cost them both everything. _

_ Broken little Naomi was more animal than human. The gentlest touch made her shake with fear, because she had learned that those with gentle touches used her in the vilest ways. There was no fire left in her, and winter had come to Naomi’s heart. She was afraid of everything, because anything meant pain. She did not think of escape or freedom. Those things no longer existed to her._

_ The sound of footfalls was enough to send her scurrying for a corner. _

_ Kaiya had warned her. _

_ About the unending pain and the special ‘medicines’ that the High House of Arda produced and sold to other pleasure houses for its slaves. Medicines that would leave her sick for days afterward, but made her more fun for the night. Drugs that were slowly turning her insane. _

_ Kaiya had warned her, but Kaiya was gone. They had ripped her from the world in the worst way possible and made Naomi watch. They had staked her in the Courtyard and for three days they made Naomi watch what happened to girls who didn't behave. _

_ Naomi would do anything to not follow in her mentor’s footsteps. _

_ She would do anything not to die like that. _

_ Even surrender._

Naomi knew how to be a good girl. Only now, she wasn’t just doing it for herself. She wasn’t giving up the fight just to save herself. She had people counting on her to play the whore until they could be rescued.

If Naomi could be rescued at all.

She had someone with her at all times. Often, multiple guards stayed in her room if only for the show.

She was damn good at what she did.

Kum-ji was very pleased about this. She really was fit for a King. Kum-ji wondered where she came from to be so well trained in the arts of flesh.

She would fight just enough to get him hot blooded and wild then she would melt and fall gracefully back into her silk chained obedience. It was so erotic Kum-ji couldn’t believe he had caught one such as her in his net.

Even bruised and bloody, this woman was beautiful.

Not just aesthetically pleasing, but in movement, she was perfect. The glide of muscle beneath her blue and black splotched skin, the arch of her back as she rocked back and forth beneath and on top, the flutter of her long dark eyelashes against blood streaked cheekbones.

But something in her still remained somehow defiant.

He couldn’t put his finger on why he thought so. She played the game very well. But something in her glazed eyes and the pause before she did as she was commanded, as if she were mulling over a choice not a command.

Well if he could not break her through quality, he would do so through quantity.

So he smiled and kissed her too gently before he gave her to his men.

_ Little Naomi believed in the Gods. _

_ She knew They were all fucking bastards. _

_ Their gift haunted her every day. Uhrata, Uhrata, Uhrata. _

_ The word carved with a rusty knife on her very soul, whispered in the night by a voice _ _filled with poison. She knew her Gods were real, but Naomi had learned to hate Them as much as she hated the men and women who abused her, as much as she hated herself for her weakness._

_ She felt They had abandoned her. Served her up on a silver platter for the Warlords to sup on and then turned Their backs on her. When They had given her that word as a gift, she thought it meant that They would walk with her through that hell, but they didn’t. She didn’t feel Their presence as she was fucked and beaten and tortured for a mortal man’s amusement. _

_ The Gods of Belarusia, the Gods of the world had abandoned little Naomi to her fate. She had walked freely into her chains because she knew there was some greater purpose to it. _

_ What a poor consolation. _

_ Uhrata. _

_ Fucking bastards. _

Naomi breathed deeply through the howling terror inside her heart and soul.

It had been hours since Kum-ji had decided that she was not thoroughly broken to his yoke and handed her to his men to wear her down.

She was strong though.

And this time was different.

Some things were the same. The heaving male bodies thrusting and groping all around her, touching every spare expanse of her skin and reveling in the feel of it. The dark laughter that sent the redhead’s heart pounding and her body shaking from the horror that sound produced. 

Laughter was the same, the pain and the blood and the tears were the same.

It was Naomi herself that was different.

When she was young, she had cursed her fate, cursed knowing that she was little more than a lamb led to slaughter. She was an offering, it seemed, to appease the dark gods that ran rampant inside the Kai Empire’s Warlords.

Then as now, she cursed her fate, but now that she was older she could better understand what she had done- then and now. She was the barrier between those dark gods that sowed themselves in evil men’s souls and those she loved.

She loved them so much that she could be thankful that it was her and not them.

And even her curses were not flung to the Gods anymore.

She knew with all certainty that the Lady of Blessed Night was with her. Murmuring sorrowfully in her soul, taking in the worst of Her daughter’s fear and pain and gifting her with a soft blankness that Naomi hid herself in. 

She hid herself from their harsh talk, the grunts and groans, the roaming hands that sought to hurt her, to make her scream with agony. They were amateurs compared to the Warlords, but those Kai bastards had had much longer to perfect their art and pass it on through the generations.

By the time it was time to move her, Naomi couldn’t stand on her own two feet. No bones had been broken… yet… but the constant beating had bruised even the deep muscles in her calves and thighs.

So they threw her on a wagon like a sack of grain and carted her to the dock.

She expected to be put back in with the women, but instead she found herself in a dark little closet, shuddering with the deep, abiding pain as well as the motion sickness that accompanied her on the sea. They teased her for it, fondling her as she dry heaved on the floor. She hadn’t eaten anything so she only coughed up foul smelling water.

They left her there in the dark.

For the first time in hours, she was blessedly alone.

She fought her way through the waking pain and barrage of memories till she recognized the feel of a wooden floor beneath her, the smell of her vomit and blood and the faint light that shone through the crack beneath her door. The here and now.

The Lady of Blessed Night descended into Her daughter, washing away the pain briefly. It felt like being held by Kaiya after a particularly bad night. The Lady of Seas rocked her gently, Her song like a lullaby just outside the hull of the ship. Even her husband, the Lord of the Four Winds gave her reprieve, working between the boards of the ship to give her a single breath of clean air.

Her Gods hadn’t left her. They had never left her in all her years, they had been quiet, but by her side. It was a nice revelation to have amidst such horror.

To know that even when she cursed Them for bastards, cursed Them for Their heartlessness, her Gods had never really abandoned her.

Too many others had, but never Them.

And now, she was there in the belly of the beast, helpless, but for that stubborn hope that she had kept burning alive inside of her.

She had done her duty. She had kept the men distracted, off kilter enough that they wouldn’t have gone after the others, made them confident enough in their victory that they would become lax. She had given herself up, but she had _ survived _. She had won.

Her precious people, Yona and Yoon were safe. The other women were safe. At least from Yang Kum-ji and his men. Her part in this fight was over for the moment.

Now she only had to endure till her hope came once again to free her from the darkness she had walked into willingly. Just another tomb she had trapped herself in.

_ It’s far and dark, my moonlight, but I won’t give up like last time. Let the memories try and bury me, let the nightmares try and drown me. I won’t give up. I know you’ll come for me. I am strong enough to have patience. I’m strong enough to wait. _

_ I will endure. Just please, come for me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sexual abuse is a heavy theme in any story and it's something that I have referenced throughout Naomi's story, but this is the first time I have delved into the details of what really happened in her past.  
If any of my readers share Naomi's fight, remember you don't have to do it alone. Recovery is a long hard road as our assassin learns again and again, but it doesn't have to be a lonely one.
> 
> RAINN Hotlines:  
U.S. & Canada 1(888)407-4747  
Overseas +1 202.501.4444
> 
> Please reach out if you need help. And I hope that Naomi's recovery story will inspire you as well.


	20. Chapter Twenty

They were farther out at sea now. Naomi could feel the change in the way the ship moved and the way the Lady of Seas' song deepened. The Mother of Monsters seemed to roil in Her depths beneath the fleet and Naomi laughed harshly.

Every once in a while, a man or a few men would come in, rape her then leave. She swore to kill each and every one of them and the Lady roared Her agreement in Her daughter's soul. The Lady of Blessed Night was furious and Naomi reveled in it.

Only once was she pulled from the room by her hair into Yang Kum-ji's embrace.

"Ah, my little bird. It seems your wings have been clipped." He rumbled, stroking her blood clotted hair too gently. It made Naomi flinch, but her mind was turning in calculating circles.

She was brought to his secret office and made to kneel before him in all her bloody naked glory with the eyes of his officers looking on.

_So this is what he will do. This is how he keeps them from trying to attain his power for themselves. What a blundering fool._

She made sure this time to be broken and defeated. This time though, there was fire in her belly and murder in her heart.

He laughed and stroked her like a favorite pet while he discussed prices and prizes among his men. It didn't take Naomi long to realize that she had put herself in a bad position.

_I'm not on the same ship as the others_, she realized, her eyes going wide. The other women, Yona and Yoon as well, were on a ship in the right quadrant of the fleet, anonymous and well protected. The idiot Lord of Awa had hired mercenaries to swell his ranks, thinking he could cheat them later.

She did her duty. She played the broken bird, squeaking and crying when she was supposed to, pleasuring each man in his turn as she was commanded with hands and tongue after she had finished Yang Kum-ji, using every trick she had been taught in the seraglio to sweeten the bait.

_Keep them occupied, keep them distracted, kill them all later._

Dried blood flaked off her inner thighs as she moved, fresh blood joining the rest as they hit her. She wasn't going to be sold so they had free reign over her where they hadn't with the other women. It was almost a relief to feel their pent up aggression. She knew that they hadn't hurt Yona and the others.

So they hit her as compensation.

_Have at it, you whoresons, this body belongs to the Lady of Blessed Night._

_Pain is nothing._

_If it stands as a shield for the center of my world, then dash yourselves to pieces against it._

_I will see you die for it someday._

She was sure that no one would recognize her anymore. She was painted black with bruises and dried blood, her eyes swollen shut and her hair plastered in ropey strands with sweat, blood and other fluids.

_My body is a shield. Let them break against it._

_I will kill any of you left at the end._

_I will live to see each of you regret this._

Once Kum-ji reclaimed her, she rested her head on his thigh, not having to feign exhaustion. She was too tired to even flinch from his touch.

"What a good girl you are. Now go back to your room till I send for you again." Her current owner said, malice and lust dripping from his voice as he caressed her swollen face.

She looked different now. When he had first seen her, she had looked like an angel. The pleasure he had wrung from her had been the greatest he'd ever felt.

Now she looked more like she should. A whipped bitch who knew the hand that owned her. He liked the difference. Destroying her beauty and her pride made him feel powerful.

Naomi was dragged again on numb legs back to the dank little closet and tossed unceremoniously back into the darkness.

She couldn't feel anything now. She'd lost her sense of touch beneath the beatings and couldn't tell if she'd landed in the puddle of her vomit or not.

How many hours had it been? How long till the attack started? When could she leave this place and find her heart?

The need to see Yona dominated almost every other thought in her mind. Naomi needed to know that her pain and suffering had been worth it.

It had to have been worth it.

_Uhrata._

It had to have been worth something that she'd done it again.

_It was worth it, my Daughter. Take heed. The dawn will come._

The Lady's voice sounded like swords being drawn and stars falling. Like feet pounding and men screaming and ships colliding.

Dark laughter drifted up from the depths as the Lady of Seas watched the destruction unfold on her domain. Naomi felt a numb smile creep across her split and swollen lips.

She forced herself to rise to her knees, the Lady's blessed healing rushing through her.

"_H-Hail… Lady… full of G-Grace… hearken to thy… daughter's… plea…_" She garbled out through thick lips, clasping swollen fingers in front of her, missing the familiar weight of her talisman around her neck.

Her very bones screeched with protest as she began to move, but she knew if she didn't, her muscles would be too tight to aid in her escape. She would be patient, yes, but she would not be an encumbrance to her rescuers.

Naomi knew she looked bad, but nothing was broken so her blessing would be able to work quickly on her bruised muscles and torn skin. Even as she carefully stretched,

Naomi could feel her swelling begin to lessen. She could just barely crack her eyes open, just enough to see the utter darkness. Someone had extinguished the light outside her door.

A shuddering boom rocked the ship she was in, throwing the badly hurt assassin to the floor where she curled up in a ball, biting back a cry of pain.

_What in the name of All Gods are they doing?_ She thought acerbically.

She popped her shoulder back into place with a moan and wiped the tears from her blackened eyes, hoping that the Lady's blessing would work quicker than it ever had before.

She did not want anyone seeing how badly they had hurt her.

Of course, they wouldn't know how badly they had torn her apart. They could only see the bruises and cuts from beatings. They couldn't see inside of her where they had done the most damage.

The images conjured up made Naomi want to throw up again.

With that despairing thought, she knew she would be long in recovering from the ordeal she had thrown herself into.

Perhaps not as long as she had when she had first escaped the Warlords, but the kind of violation that she was subjected to had a way of branding itself in the mind so it wouldn't be easily tucked away in the dark corner of her memory.

She would try to anyways.

"Focus, stupid girl." She garbled out loud to herself. Flexing her hands, she found that her fingers were a semblance of normal. They hurt, but it was a pain she could be brushed away.

The door had no doorknob on the inside for which she cursed, but there were always ways around such things.

Another bang resounded through the ship.

She hoped everyone was okay.

"They've cut the main mast!" She heard someone shout and Naomi grinned. Without the mast, she wasn't going anywhere. The ship was efficiently stripped of its ability to move on the water.

There was a loud constant clamor now and Naomi had no way of knowing who was winning. With her family though, she knew that Yang Kum-ji's men were hard pressed and the mercenaries would be quivering in their boots. They had been promised an easy battle from the pirates, but now they were faced with a group of men who could end armies by themselves.

And the most dangerous of their opponents was locked inside a closet, sidelined by injury and necessity.

She could smell fire and hoped that it wasn't her ship that was aflame.

More shouting filtered down and she was proved wrong. Most of the deck was on fire and many were abandoning the ship she was on.

No one came for her. She was a pretty slave in their eyes and she was expendable.

It didn't matter to her. Her family would come for her. They would never abandon her.

_But they don't know where you are… they think you're on the ship with the other women… if they can't find you, you're finished…_

"Time for plan B." She murmured in Belarusian and began searching for a way to free herself.

She moved slowly, aware of every hand that had touched her those last few hours. She could feel the violence of it all around her, in her skin, in her body, and she drank it up like an alcoholic drinks sake. It drowned out the lingering terror inside her for the moment.

Her predicament became clear as she found no weakness in the wood, no hole or rotting wood through which she could hammer her way to freedom.

She wished she had her blades. More than ever, she felt truly naked without her weaponry.

The smell of the fire grew closer and Naomi began to sweat. She was well and truly trapped- and burns did not heal as quickly as bruises.

There was another thundering crash that rocked the ship, but she managed to stay where she was, pulling with all the strength in her pain filled arms.

"Come on, come on…" She muttered, digging her fingers beneath the door frame and pulling. It gave an inch but no more.

"Damn it!" She cursed, breathing heavily.

Then she felt the water.

Her heart thudded unevenly in her chest.

"Oh no… oh no, no, no. This can't be happening." She whispered, feeling the cold ocean water, gently roll under the crack in the door.

_That last crash… they must have punched a hole through the hull._

_This ship is sinking._

More water flowed into her tiny prison, washing over her blood covered feet. She tried tugging at the door again, but it was hard to find in the dark. The water reached her ankles and Naomi knew she was well and truly fucked.

"Hey! Can anyone hear me?! I'm down here! Help!" She yelled, banging on the door, on the walls, anywhere she could think. Already the floor was tilting as the ship took on water.

The water reached her knees now.

_Think, woman, think!_

She kicked at the door ineffectually till her feet bled anew and the salt water stung her injuries lovingly.

_I will die here if I don't find a way to get out. I can't die yet. I have too much to do._

More water poured in from the cracks in the door, the darkness reminding her of another tomb, another place that she would have died. Thinking on it, she decided she much preferred dying in a cave to drowning in a little room on a ship sunk by her allies.

Her true preference, though, was to live.

"You bastards couldn't have waited till I was off the ship before sinking it? I'm going to beat all of you senseless once I see you again." She growled, clawing at the door like an animal as the water rose to her thighs and the angle of the floor steepened. Soon the ship would be going down and Naomi with it.

"Oh Blessed Lady of Seas, do not take me now to your watery abode, do not yet send me to my patron's arms! I have too many to kill and too many to love to die now!"

The water was freezing cold and it felt strangely wonderful to feel the sting of the salt cleansing her wounds and the chilled water numbed her ravaged skin. Yet, the black water held the murmur of impending doom.

The longer it took, the harder it would be to move the door. Naomi knew that once the door was saturated with water, it would swell and make it almost impossible for her to get it open.

_Little dragon… remember the Xing dungeons_… the echo of a memory called to her.

_Xing dungeons_? She thought, clenching her jaw and rifling through her mind.

It had been the third mission she had ever gone on with Nagashima Hiro. Sullen and silent, she had been. He had saved her- but she did not trust any man with her existence.

Not even the one who had set her free.

In the dungeons, he was to eliminate a criminal who was about to walk.

He had worked the bolts from the hinges and shoved a vial full of poison into the man's neck before taking his terribly young apprentice and vanishing into the night, calmly teaching her in his serene, beautiful voice.

He wasn't called the Viper King for nothing.

The water had reached her ribs when the answer blinded her in its simplicity.

_The hinges!_

There was no lock or door knob on the inside of the room but the door swung inward and the hinges remained on the inside of the door.

Taking a deep breath, Naomi plunged herself into the water, desperate fingers reaching for the door frame.

She found the lower hinge, the metal ice cold against her numbed fingers. Broken fingernails worked beneath the bolt and Naomi grit her teeth and held her breath. The bolt loosened inch by inch until it wrenched free and out of Naomi's hands.

The water grew ever higher and she now had to tread the water to stay above its surface and as the boat turned, the ceiling soon became a wall and the door rose above her, one hinge away from freedom. The water poured around the cracks in the door and Naomi feared the pressure building above her.

No help for it.

She threw up prayers one last time to her beloved Gods, filled her lungs to capacity and plunged back into the water, the hourglass of her life slowly trickling away. Swimming to the new floor, Naomi's hands searched for the cold metal of the first bolt.

Her fingers barely recognized it when they found it, rolling around on the bottom.

She pushed off from the bottom up to where the water spilled uncaring into her little prison.

Gasping and wild, she breathed quickly, swallowing as much oxygen as she could force into her body.

_Mother of Monsters, give me gills!_

Sucking in a last lungful, the water closed through the room and Naomi started counting. The desperate woman used the first bolt to wedge beneath the top one, fingers, wrists, and arms working frantically at it, praying and hoping that she was as lucky as she claimed to be.

As it were- she was.

The bolt came free and she dropped the heavy piece of metal and taking a hold of the freed hinges, Naomi gently yanked the door from its frame, blowing tiny little bubbles from split lips. Waves of cold water washed over her and the ship quickly sank as those last vestiges of air were stolen.

Her muscles were frozen and Naomi wasn't sure which part of her brain was still working in order to swim through the vertical maze of the ship, all the while her precious store of breath carefully slipped away.

By the time she extricated herself from the sinking ship as all its horrible memories, her air was almost gone. The pitiful little bubbles that squeezed from hard pressed lips came to a stop and Naomi frantically kicked up and away toward the battle ravaged surface.

A slight current seemed to push her from below and it felt warm to the touch. A little gift from the Mother of Monsters who still laughed at the destruction that added to the treasure at the bottom of her domain.

She strained for the surface, mustering all her strength to push herself towards life.

That first lungful of free air was the kindest gift her Gods had ever given her.

She was shivering violently, but the water around her was warm with the Lady of Seas' regard, the salt cleansing the wounds inside and out, washing away the blood, tears, sweat, and fluids that remained from her ordeal. She let out a shuddering half sigh, half sob and floated amidst the remnants of a fierce sea battle.

Naomi had survived, clinging naked and hurt to a piece of burnt driftwood, hoping that her blessed Mother of Monsters kept her other children in check. Much blood was spilled on the waters and Naomi certainly did not feel up to battling one of the Lady of Seas' terrifying brood.

Frankly, she wasn't up to much of anything besides breathing.

She looked around her blearily once she mustered the strength to raise her head. Burned and broken ships surrounded her like gravestones in a graveyard.

_I've never understood that practice. When a Belarusian dies, their body is given back to the land, usually buried beneath a young tree in the family orchard. We are people of nature, living as close to it as we can. I could tell you the name of each of my grandparents and their grandparents going back many generations. Great Aunt Mimi had grown a crabapple tree having been known as a grumpy and bitter old woman. My Father's Father had grown into a delicious pear tree. Belarusians don't rot in boxes beneath stones. We become trees that bear the fruit of several lifetimes. I was never more at peace than when I walked among the family orchard knowing they were all looking after me._

Naomi floated, for the moment lost in memory.

_I wonder if it's still there or if the Warlords put it to the torch like so many other family orchards._

Tired, blackened eyes searched for survivors among the wreck, seeing mercenaries and Kum-ji's men like her, floating in the water… defeated.

Naomi smiled. _So… we won_.

Memories rose up, black and vile in her mind and she put her face in the warm water and screamed out the agony. The effort almost rendered her unconscious.

The salt water could wash away the blood, could clean her wounds and ease the pain, but it wasn't the pain in her body she feared. It was the knowledge of the recovery that stretched out before her that made her so afraid. She had done it before, but that had been a long time ago and had taken long years to distance herself from it enough to ignore it.

She didn't have that kind of time. She would have to learn to get over it. She had to get over it so she could continue with the business of living. She had too much to do to be held back by evil memories and fear.

_I have to remember how to live in the brightness again_, she thought, thinking of Yona and her family that were waiting for her to return. She was very far gone in the darkness, both in her mind and soul as well as physically. She would be a mere speck of red hair and pale skin, floating three quarters dead in the black ocean water. And within herself, she felt dirty.

Her purpose had been noble, but the results were still the same. She was an unclean thing, soiled by disgusting hands belonging to evil men. Their touch was branded on her skin and she wouldn't be able to touch anyone while the marks of their untender care were still visible.

Especially not her most precious person. Her heart, her Princess, her little sister.

She would not sully Princess Yona with her touch until the trauma was washed away and made her worthy again.

Naomi sighed and let a few bitter tears leak down her cheeks into the salty water. No one would ever know of those tears: the ones she shed for no one, but herself.

In those moments of weakness, her Gods came to her side. She felt the Lady of Blessed Night, the mother of her heart, mind and soul, wrap Her great wings around Her poor lost daughter, for once laying down Her sword to comfort her. The Lady of Seas caressed her abused body lovingly and Her husband ran His gentle fingers across Naomi's tear sodden cheeks. In her heart, she felt the Lord of the Forge beat His anvil in sorrow while His brother, the Lord of the Hunt blew His hunting horn in a mourning dirge; and His wife the Lady of Flame wept Her molten tears. In the distance, she felt the sleepy rumbling of the Mother of All, the great Earth Goddess, wife of the Lord of the Hunt. Others as well, some she had not named in years. More Gods than Naomi had ever felt before touched her soul lovingly.

All the Gods of Belarusia gathered to mourn Their child's suffering. Their sacrifice.

Naomi fancied she could even hear the Great One Itself roaring far, far away from Its insignificant child that It adored so fiercely, but Naomi would never even dare think to wonder at the Great Dragon God whose blood flowed in her veins.

The world smudged around her to a dark nothingness with only the stars as her light. There were no words, only a divine Song whispering through infinity that spoke of regret and sorrow and implacable command.

_So it's true_, she thought, _my fate is to suffer. To suffer for something greater than myself._

The old Naomi never would have accepted it. Before, there had been nothing more important than herself and her skills. Now…

Naomi saw a great tree with leaves crumbling to night black sand, roots steeped in blood clinging to a cliff above an ocean of storms. She saw it's twin, nestled in a valley she'd never seen before- leaves dripping red and the roots turning black with rot.

She saw Yona's face floated in the darkness, outshining the light of the pinprick stars.

_Yes, my Gods, she is worth it. Every bit of it. Thank you for giving me the chance to walk in the light by her side. It's a long path and I am afraid, but if You'll walk with me, I will forge onward to the end._

The sorrow seemed to fade from the divine Song.

Naomi wept anew, but in gratitude.

From her Gods, she felt pride and love like she could have only imagined receiving.

_Always, Daughter of the World. Always and always we are with you. Wherever your wyrd has you bound we will, as we always have, walk alongside you. Never will you suffer alone._

Great heaving sobs left Naomi shuddering in the goddess warmed waters.

Never could she have imagined she would be so loved by immortals to whom her life was a mere blink of an eye.

Then came a moment where the Gods turned Their eyes away from Naomi and she looked up as well, only to see darkness. She could feel it though. A moment where time seemed to stretch and reality bent in on itself.

_A crossroads_, Naomi thought, _but for who?_

She heard the twang of a bowstring and watched as the sky lightened in the East and knew that her duty was done. She had survived the night and those she cared for had won the battle.

_I suppose it's okay for me to rest now_, Naomi thought quietly laying her head against her little burnt piece of driftwood.

Buoyed by the love of her Gods, Yami, the pirate martyr, surrendered herself to deep oblivion.

* * *

"Have you found her yet?!" Yoon yelled frantically, Yona glued to his side. All their faces were pale and wane with weariness, but they couldn't rest. Not yet.

"No, we haven't found any trace of her," Jae-ha said almost sinking to his knees beneath the weight of his exhaustion. Worry kept him on his feet as it did every pirate still able to stand. They sent out boat after boat, searching for their missing companion, but they had yet to find any sign of her. The captured soldiers had told them readily enough that Yang Kum-ji had brought her on board, but none knew what had become of her once the battle had started.

"We have to find her!" Yona cried with anguish plain in her voice for anyone to hear.

To Yoon and Yona the duty had fallen to tell the others what had become of the red haired woman. The other women too came forward demanding to help with the search, explaining the importance of finding the woman called Yami. The men couldn't have stopped them even if they had wanted to. All the women, Yoon, and Yona recalled their last sight of her like a burning flame in their mind.

And the horror that all the captives felt remembering the moment…

Yona pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes wishing she could bring Yang Kum-ji back from the dead to kill him all over again.

They had only heard it once when the door was left open while the guard passed out the water rations to the women. They remembered his oily smile when he had heard it too.  
  
Only once had they all heard it ringing through the halls of the compound until the door had shut and they heard no more. They knew it had continued, but they didn't hear anything anymore and that almost made it worse.

A long scream, tortured and despairing, like nothing any of them had ever heard before.

_Her_ scream.

"We'll keep looking. We know she was on one of these ships. She's smart so she'll be in a place where we can find her." Jae-ha said, trying his best to reassure everyone, but even he wasn't so sure what had happened or why they hadn't found her yet.

It wasn't till the women had been accounted for that someone spoke up, asking after a beautiful woman with red hair and blue eyes who had been separated from them. No one had imagined that she would have left her charges for any reason until, in stammering tones, the captured women explained what had taken place inside the compound.

Shin-Ah had been shaking ever since and refused to come down from the crow's nest where he used his tired eyes to search and search for a hint of her. It had been two hours since dawn had broken.

In the light of day, the carnage was substantial and though there were few casualties everyone knew that coming back from this battle would be hard and instead of celebration there was a mix of relief and tension that stretched across the site of the naval battle.

_I will not cry_, Yona thought gritting her teeth fiercely, _she is fine. She is waiting for us to find her. I. Will. Not. Cry._

She went to the railing, eyes scanning like everyone else's for a sign of red hair and pale skin in the water. Yoon came up and took her hand and she squeezed it tightly.

_Onee-chan, where are you?_

A shout carried across the sparkling water and heads snapped in that direction. It was Yuri, the impromptu leader of the captured women, frantically waving her hands over her head from her little boat.

"I found her! I found her! Please help, _she's not breathing!_" Yuri shouted desperately. At her words, everyone broke into pandemonium. A few men jumped overboard and swam with alacrity to the little dingy, climbing aboard to row it with all haste back to the pirate ship.

Captain Gi-gan's voice carried over all others, giving everyone their orders- even as she stood at the railing, her pipe forgotten in her hand, as the woman called Yami was carefully brought to her deck.

It was horrible to see.

She was barely recognizable anymore, only the waterlogged red hair remaining to properly identify her. She was naked as she was brought on deck, but Jae-ha drew his long coat off and draped it over her battered body the moment she was laid on the deck.

A crowd gathered and many wept to see what had become of the fierce and beautiful woman they remembered. How could so much damage be done in one night?

Every inch of her skin was mottled black, blue, purple, and yellow with the only deviant being where gashes cut a bloody swath across the bruised expanse. Her sultry lips were swollen and split deeply and her eyelids were black and swollen in their hollows. There were raw open wounds around her wrists and ankles and in some places they would clearly see black handprints etched on her.

Jae-ha worked efficiently with burning focus, carefully pressing her abdomen in case her ribs were broken and closing his lips around her bruised ones, forcing air into water-filled lungs.

"She had just gone under the water when I caught sight of her. She had been holding onto a little piece of wood from a sunken ship for who knows how long and she must have passed out. I don't know how much water she breathed in before I got her." Yuri explained, trembling and soaked as someone wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

No one said anything as Jae-ha worked to bring a very dead looking woman back to life.

Yona, Hak, Shin-Ah, and Kija stood together next to her, eyes trained on her face looking for any sign she was waking up. Yoon knelt opposite to Jae-ha, checking her pulse and beginning his preliminary examination on her, growing sick as more of her sacrifice was revealed to him.

The tension broke when with one heave of breath Jae-ha gave her, water began to spout from her mouth and nose with coughing and hacking to follow.

A ragged cheer went up as she jerked with the force of her coughing although her eyes never opened and she showed no signs of waking. Yoon was reminded of that night so long ago and watching the poison spill from her fevered lips- and offered a small, choking prayer for brave foolish women to whatever Gods were listening.

"Naomi!" Yona cried, throwing herself down to the hurt woman's side, taking her sister's bruised hand between her own, not caring of the broken fingernails that scratched her.  
  
Tears followed the cheers and Captain Gi-gan went to the prone figure on her deck.

Yami seemed so much smaller.

She brushed a gnarled finger along a bruised cheek. "We'll sing songs of your bravery, Yami. We will teach them to our children and our children's children about the courage you've shown us." She murmured, just loud enough for Yona and her people to hear.

The Captain stood and faced her pirates who were no longer her pirates.

"This is a day of celebration. Awa is free from the tyranny that has haunted us for too many years. Yet always remember the price of victory. We honor this woman who chose of her own free will to pay our price for us. Mourn what befell her and that our price was so high, but celebrate her victory, our victory over death and destruction!"

This galvanized everyone and even Yami's companions seemed to take heart from her words. Jae-ha lifted the little woman into his arms cautiously and went to take her to a warm bed and the crowd parted, watching her reverently, Yoon following close behind the Green Dragon.

Bruised, bloodied, and broken- but they gazed at her like one gazes at a holy relic. The women, for whom she had risked all for, reached out to touch her as she passed, remembering the bitter memories with the sweet.

"Kids!" The Captain shouted, "Let's go back to Awa."

Everyone moved off to sail their people back to the port city and Hak watched as Shin-Ah turned away from everyone, headed towards the bow with Ao on his shoulder.

He tilted his head and followed the strange masked man wondering what had gotten into him. He had searched for her the whole night, mute and terrified when she had not been found, yet when she was found he did nothing.

Knowing Jae-ha and Yoon would take good care of her, he caught Shin-Ah at the bow of the ship, blocking anyone from interrupting with a stern glance.

"She'll get better, you know. She'll look normal in a few days…" He noticed Shin-Ah's hands shaking.

"I don't care what she looks like. She's still Naomi." He said forcefully, putting a shaking hand to his face and grinding his teeth.

Hak tapped his glaive against his shoulder confused. "I would have thought you'd be glued to her side. You were so worried-"

Shin-Ah interrupted him in a low, tight voice. "I can't be with her."

Hak was stunned into silence.

Anger followed in its wake.

This man dared to look down on her because she had been violated? What was she no longer desirable because she had been hurt by cruel men? She had given up everything to keep the Princess and Yoon and everyone safe and he _dared_ to turn his back on her now?

"What do you think you're doing, blue boy?" Hak hissed furiously, making Shin-Ah turn to face him.

"You think she isn't good enough for you anymore because she was raped?" Shin-Ah flinched at the mention of that word. He hadn't known what it meant till one of the pirates quietly explained it to him the morning after he had let her go.

He hadn't known what she was going towards. He never would have let them go if he had known. Either of them.

"Yes, we all know what happened. She was brutally raped by Yang Kum-ji and his men and she will be in pain for a long time because of it. She is hurt and she needs to know that what happened doesn't change how we feel about her. She did it for us! For them! For _her_! So don't you dare spit on her sacrifice by thinking that she is now less than she was before!" Hak threatened, his fierce blue eyes glittering dangerously.

Shin-Ah for his part was shocked that Hak would think so little of him.

"You think that I… that I could think…"

Hak growled. "Well, what I am supposed to think when you say stupid things like you can't be with her? If that's not it then what could possibly keep you-"

"_I broke my promise!_" Shin-Ah said louder than he'd meant, all the anguish he had bottled inside of him spilled out with those words. A tear crept down his face beneath his mask and he dashed it away savagely.

"I broke my promise to her… I swore I wouldn't abandon her in the dark… that I would come for her no matter what…"

Once again Hak was rendered speechless partially from guilt and partially from gut deep sympathy.

"But I did. Naomi was alone and I couldn't find her no matter how I searched… I left her and now she'll hate me… I failed her… I don't deserve to be by her side…" He finished in a whisper, his fingers digging into the railing blindly.

Oh, how he hated himself.

Hak was quiet for a time, deep in thought. He wondered who his soul sister would be when she woke up. She may hate all of them… but Hak doubted it. He knew her well enough to know that her only thought would be for the rest of them.

And she needed her blue boy.

"Listen, Shin-Ah... Don't lay it all on yourself. I failed her too." Shin-Ah started with surprise and looked at the big man who had a painful smile on his face. "I didn't know how bad it would be either. If I had known, I never would have let those two crazy women out of my sight. But that's done and there is no taking back her pain. If I could take some of it from her, I would in a heartbeat because she certainly didn't deserve it. The only thing we can do for her now is be there. We've left her alone too many times now to leave her again. It'll be bad when she wakes up, but it won't be bad forever. You know her, Shin-Ah… do you really think she could ever hate you?"

Shin-Ah thought about it. Thought about her.

Naomi was Naomi. She had a fiery temper, quick with a sharp word or sword depending on the situation. She could be cold and calculating, but also impossibly noble and compassionate. He knew she had a very large heart that she wasn't always careful with. He knew there were times she was afraid of things he couldn't see or imagine- and that she looked at him with eyes full of fearful trust and that he treasured that trust.

"Do you love her, Hak?" Shin-Ah asked, nervous of his answer.

The big man shrugged, off put by the question.

"Of course I love her." Shin-Ah's shoulders slumped and Ao nuzzled his neck worriedly.

Hak smiled with a deep fondness and regret. "She's my equal in pretty much everything and someone who I can see myself reflected in."

Shin-Ah opened his mouth to acquiesce to Hak's feelings and tell him to love beautiful Naomi for him when Hak's next words slapped it right out of his mouth.

"She's the sister I always wanted. Someone who can meet me at my worst and understand, but also knows my best. I can count on her to have my back no matter what and it's a comfort knowing that she'll do whatever is needful no matter what. I suppose now, it's also a terror knowing how far she'll go for those she loves, but that's who she is. I wouldn't change it for the world."

Shin-Ah let out a shuddering breath and eased his grip on the railing.

Hak cast a sly look at the other man. _You owe me for this, aneki,_ he thought.

"You thought Naomi and I were something, eh?" Hak grinned seeing the breath catch in the masked man's throat. Shin-Ah said nothing though, not having the words to

describe his victorious feeling now that he knew there was a chance.

Hak moved to lean against the railing and leaned in carefully. "She's not shown interest in someone else? You can't think of anyone other than me that she could possibly want?"

The kiss blossomed in Shin-Ah's mind and he gulped, unable to prevent the blush spreading over his cheeks and up his neck.

Hak chuckled darkly, "I thought so. So have you done anything?"

Shin-Ah's fingers went to his lips involuntarily. It had been the day before yesterday that she had jerked his face down in the moonlight and yet it felt like years had passed.

Hak cocked an eyebrow, imitating Naomi too well.

"Ah… so how does she kiss?"

Shin-Ah found the words this time.

"Naomi kisses like a goddess."

Hak huffed a laugh and sighed looking skyward. "Of course she does."

* * *

After his chat with Hak, Shin-Ah wandered around deep in thought, playing with Ao absentmindedly. The sound of music caught his attention finally as they were nearing Awa.

Following it he ended up in the room that Jae-ha had commandeered for Naomi. The Green Dragon sat by her bedside calmly playing a strange one stringed instrument that made the most melodious sound.

Jae-ha rocked gently as he sawed the bow back and forth with masterful skill, while his other hand manipulated the string lovingly.

He remained silent till Jae-ha finished the song he was playing and stopped to rest his

fingers. That's when he noticed the silent figure in the doorway.

"Oh Shin-Ah, come in. She still sleeps though she seems to be doing better." He called pitching his voice low and soothing so as not to disturb her.

The masked man cocked his head towards the instrument in the other man's lap.

"It's an erhu. The music soothes her where not much else does." Jae-ha sighed and watched Naomi's chest rise and fall, just making sure she was breathing._ Maddening women_, he thought fondly, _to make us worry so. Wake up, Lady so we can banter again and you can teach me those recipes for human liver_.

"Take over watch for a spell? I'd like to watch us pull into port victorious." The green haired man said standing gracefully. Shin-Ah nodded and went to take up the chair next to her bed.

Jae-ha stopped in the doorway and cast a glance over his shoulder.

"Watch over her well," he murmured before walking away.

Shin-Ah pulled the chair closer to the bed, removing his mask as he did and Ao leaped from his shoulder to the pillow that her head rested on. The squirrel nibbled at her hair gently before curling up near her ear.

She was looking better. Already some of the bruises were turning colors and beginning to fade. Yoon had bound her open wounds and applied poultices to her wrists and ankles. The swelling in her face was starting to recede so she was more recognizable.

It didn't matter to him. He'd know her anywhere.

He took one of her hands in his and pressed the mottled appendages to his lips, hoping that even in sleep she'd know he was there.

"I'm so_ sorry_, Naomi." He whispered as his eyes saw in detail every agony she had taken writ in bruised and torn flesh.

"I swear, I will not let you down again. I will never again leave you in the dark alone. Next time you walk in darkness, I will walk alongside you and I will lead you back into the light. And if the sunlight is too much, then I will beg the Lady of Blessed Night to brighten the stars to light our way instead."

He carefully leaned over her head, not disturbing a single hair on her head.

With the utmost delicacy, he pressed his lips to her swollen, split ones and breathed in her scent.

_If this were a tale_, he thought, _now would be when she opens her eyes and confesses her undying affection_. But this was not a tale, her eyes remained shut and if any confession were happening they belonged to him alone.

He sat back down in the chair, rather self conscious even though Ao was his only witness.

A tear glistened down her cheek from beneath her blackened eyelids and he wiped it away deftly. "There is no need for tears now, Naomi. We won. All of us made it thanks to you and now you are safe. No one can hurt you now. I am here." He murmured, running his fingertips over her mottled flesh, falling into his rituals with regards to her.

It soothed her and he smiled slightly.

"They already are telling tales of you. Yoon was the one who told Captain Gi-gan though, that it was all fine and good to tell your story true. A sacrifice like yours doesn't need any embellishment to make a daring tragedy. But Yoon said that if they did that, then they must also have a story of truth and lies that would last the ages. I'll tell you the story he made for you."

He stroked her skin and in his quiet voice spun out the tale Yoon had devised as a tribute to his friend, mentor, and sister. A story of them all.

"It is a story of two warrior women who disguised themselves as farm girls to foil the plot of a wicked lord. The eldest was a sorceress, brilliant and beguiling, who was blessed by the Gods with magic while the younger sister was a master archer who never missed her mark."

Shin-Ah imagined Naomi's delight at the story. She would take the teasing for it, but being the heroine of a story would please her.

"The evil lord had kidnapped the most beautiful women in the land and forced them to be his slaves on his dark hidden island that no one could find without his permission. The fathers and husbands of the stolen women begged for aid, but no one would help, for they were afraid of the lord's wrath. Only the sisters agreed to fight the evil lord with their merry band of vagabonds. Together they infiltrated the lord's keep. The eldest sister used her beauty and cunning to dazzle the men into surrendering to her and then tricked the evil lord into taking her to wife for a night. So distracted by her, he never noticed the younger sister spiriting the women away from his keep to their men until the island lay empty. Upon finding this, he raged around his dark castle searching for the sisters, only to find them aboard his only ship sailing away. Then he ran to his cannons meaning to sink the ship and the sisters who had fooled him. So the eldest summoned her magic and plucked the beam of a sunrise turning it into a magical bow which she gave to her sister. Then she took a ray of the sunset and made an arrow of it, and gave it to her sister, who knocked the arrow and shot it from a mile away. It seemed an impossible shot and the evil lord laughed until the arrow struck him in the chest, turning him into golden dust that blew away on a wind the eldest summoned. The island shone with the light of sunrise and sunset, left to be a mystery, and when they returned all the men and women of the land bowed in thanks to the two sisters. Then the King of the Gods came down and rewarded the sisters by making them the Queens of Sunrise and Sunset. To the eldest went Sunset and the younger was given Sunrise. It is said that even now, the two sisters guard the land and that no man or woman need ever be afraid for the Queens of Dawn and Dusk still watch over them and guide the light of the world."

He finished the tale and smiled, knowing the lies the story told, but also the truth that lay in the bones of its telling.

It was a story that would be passed down for generations and the pirates of Awa had promised to share the tale till it spread across the country and further.

"You will not be forgotten, my Sunset Queen." Shin-Ah whispered, pillowing his head on his arms close enough that he could feel the warmth of her on his face.

He was unaware of the shadow of the Green Dragon that hovered in the doorway one last moment before swiftly and silently moving away from the door, smiling with the secret.

Shin-Ah couldn't wait to tell her the story and see the pleasure and pain in her eyes, for there would be pain with this tale as well. But it was a pain they would all learn to live with.

There would be joy too. With Naomi, who knew too much of the bad in the world, the joy always seemed sweeter. She lived life to its fullest, drinking in the bitter and the sweet, teaching those who shared her life to do the same.

He knew the words that could say how he felt, but he knew if he said them they'd be real. So for the time being, he held his peace and simply enjoyed basking in the calm warmth of a sunset at high noon.

Naomi was alive.

For the moment, it was enough.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

Naomi dreamed.

She dreamt of the ancient trial of the Roghnaithe, of which had she proved worthy, she would have undertaken when she had turned sixteen. When she was three years old, a wisewoman had tested her and found that she had the potential for it.

Her Father and Mother had been speechless with the revelation that they had borne a daughter who could rise to such an honored position. That would have been her fate- had the Warlords not come for her.

The Roghnaithe, since ancient times, had been the avatar of the Gods of Belarusia. One who manifested Their touch the strongest. Naomi had been one of three children born in her generation who could have taken the old Roghnaithe’s place when he died. The Roghnaithe stood above all and through them, the Gods of the Mountains aided Their people. For though the Roghnaithe stood as the spiritual leader of the scattered tribes that made up what was left of the Belarusian people, they were still servants. A lifetime of servitude to cruel and compassionate Gods as well as cruel and compassionate people.

When she was young, the idea of service hadn’t seemed so bad to Naomi. As a slave, she found out that even golden manacles were still chains, no matter how they sparkled. After she escaped, she valued her freedom and independence more than anything- and had violently, mercilessly killed to protect it.

Then she had met Princess Yona and found that she would kill anyone who tried to free her of her bonds. When it came down to it, she still chose servitude. Maybe it was in her blood after all.

Little Naomi had never met the previous Roghnaithe. He had been murdered when Naomi was five, burned alive in the Province he had been tending to. He would have become her mentor when she turned ten. She had been told that becoming the Roghnaithe was her destiny. Everyone held such hopes for her.

If the Warlords had never come, when she was sixteen she would have been taken to the mountain deep in the Belarusian territory known as Godspear, her people’s holiest of holy grounds.

And there, she would have been given a week's worth of rations, an obsidian knife, and three waterskins. Dressed in her hardiest clothes, she would have climbed.

It would have taken a long time, but if the Gods had chosen true, she would have arrived at the peak of Godspear and received part of Their essence from Their own hands. She would have descended from Godspear and become the new Roghnaithe of Belarusia.

The mortal Avatar of the Gods.

It was of this trial Naomi dreamt of as she was borne back to Awa.

_ Naomi climbed. Days had passed since she had first begun her trial and she could still feel the anointing oil her mentor had smeared on her forehead at the base of the Rhuhar Tree. _

_ She had been preparing for this trek for years, ever since she had come under the Roghnaithe’s tutorship. He was wiser than anyone she had ever met and there was always the faint glow of divinity about him. He was old now and he had looked forward to the day he could pass on his mantle to Naomi’s young shoulders. As she had departed on her sacred journey, she had heard his voice fill the wind with it’s beautiful measuring tones asking the Gods to look favorably upon his student. _

_ Naomi had studied for years, slowly coming to understand what it was to be the Gods’ mortal form. Her future duties to her people. Now, she had to prove worthy of such a burden. _

_ She ascended step by step, carefully conserving her resources and her energy for the last leg of her journey which she knew would be the toughest. _

_ As she was instructed, she kept her mind blank and open, thinking not of her family or her friends nor even herself. Her mind was focused only upon the Gods whose call she felt so clearly within her. _

_ Godspear was steep and, in some places, perfect sheer drops back down to the valleys below. At the lower altitude, it was lush and fertile land, but as it rose higher it became nothing, but bare rock and scrub plants. _

_ Stripped to nothing but her woolen dress, Naomi clung to the mountainside with toes and fingers, roughened by years of climbing. Wind battered her to and fro trying to throw her, but she felt no fear. She knew she was worthy. This was merely another test of her devotion. _

_ She gritted her teeth and climbed inch by torturous inch up the cliff face, her only focus was on the pinnacle of the mountain. It seemed that she rose above the clouds, tasting the thin air and breathing it in deeply. _

_ She left blood in her wake. Fingers, palms, toes, and feet torn by the unforgiving earth that made the great peak. _

_ Never had she felt more holy. _

_ Naomi smiled fiercely as she gazed upward, seeing her goal materialized above her. _

_ Exhausted, shaking, and breathless, the thin Belarusian girl hauled herself skyward, not stopping till she reached the tip of Godspear and stood on unsteady legs upon the highest peak in the world. _

_ Spreading her arms wide, she closed her eyes and called her invocation in a surprisingly strong voice. The air up there was thin, but it seemed charged with energy that tasted like lightning and sang in her veins. _

_ She had done it. She had become a vessel, a place of self where the self was not. _

_ Clouds seemed to swirl around her and in the cyclone’s wake, They came. _

_ She had been trained to recognize them by the compass in her soul, but now, seeing Them in front of her in all Their beautiful and terrible glory- it made Naomi want to weep with gratitude. _

_ The multitude of Gods gathered to offer up a part of Themselves to mortality, the Lords and Ladies of the World. Across the lands, They were known by different names, but the Belarusian folk were ancient and knew Them for what they were. _

_ They smiled down at Their brightest daughter, one who had proven worthy to carry a piece of Them inside herself to guide her people. _

_ They had chosen her. _

_ She received Them with an open heart and a pure soul, blessed with knowledge and power that could shake the sky. _

_ Naomi could hardly encompass all that she became as each of her beloved Gods granted her a piece of Them so that she might become Their mortal body. _

_ The Gods are bloodless and bound only to Their immortal trappings. Without a human host, they may become unstrung from Their children. They felt no pain, no suffering, no sorrow in Their immortality. So They chose long ago to give a part of Themselves to a mortal who would give Them the ability to shoulder that burden and bring balance to infinity. _

_ The Roghnaithe was the bearer of the Gods’ mortality. _

_ Naomi accepted Them into her body, feeling Them fill her very being to the breaking point where she was sure she could hold no more. Somehow she kept absorbing those pieces inside her, always feeling like she was about to break, but never breaking. _

_ When the last Godling kissed her soul and left behind Their piece, They smiled at Their daughter, loving her and the feeling of being one with her. They could feel the blood pumping in her veins, the cold air in her lungs, and the bright blaze of her fiery soul. _

_ Then They bowed, as one more descended to give the new Roghnaithe Its blessing. _

_ Gasping, Naomi looked around her and fell to her knees, not feeling the rock bite into her skin. _

_ All around her undulated the incomprehensible being that the Belarusian folk called the Great One. The King of Kings, the Great Dragon God, the one God no Belarusian would pray to. _

_ It was everything. The world lay in Its vast coils, protected and adored by a deity Naomi could only describe as the cosmos Itself. It was the sky, the stars, the earth, the water, the fire, the air, the moon, the sun and everything in between. From the mightiest mountain and brightest star to the tiniest mouse and the littlest seed growing in the dark of the land. _

_ It was her and her mother, her sister, and her father. Her mentor, her friends, even the Warlords who hated them so much. It was everything and yet, none of those things. It was so much more. _

_ * _ ** _AS YOU NEED THE GODS, SO DO THE GODS NEED YOU*_ **

_ A gorgeous reverberating voice as deep and rumbling as an avalanche surrounded her, pummeling her with its power. She thought it would tear her apart, but the silence that followed was even worse. _

_ * _ ** _… my little dragon…*_ **

_ That same voice that had thundered through her entire being, whispered with the delicacy of a falling petal on a still pond. Tears choked her as she felt Its weighty gaze on her, filled with the love and tenderness born of hundreds of thousands of millions of years. _

_ The Great One looked on Its beloved child with infinite implacable adoration and terrible merciless sorrow. _

_ She thought she spoke, but her voice seemed lost within Its coils as she seemed to lose herself, buoyed only by the tether of her mortal flesh and the grace she now held inside of her. _

_ The mightiest of deities loved her and Naomi was sure that whatever words she had to say about it, It already knew. It knew her the best out of anyone or anything that had ever existed. It had made her exactly the way It wanted her and It loved her for all her faults and foibles. _

_ This is what it is to be the child of the cosmos, she thought, smiling her sweetest smile. _

_ The Great One roared and the sound of it made thunder sound pathetic in comparison. _

_ And as soft as a snowflake, It dropped a piece of It inside her, binding Itself to this _

_ tiny, insignificant, perfect speck of life that It cherished so deeply. _

_ Naomi wept. _

_ She saw ribbons of color twisting sinuously among the Great One’s coils. Blue, White, Green, and Yellow. They danced through the coils of the cosmos and Naomi was awed by the pure and utter majesty of it. They seemed the pillars that held the Great One together. But Naomi saw that one dancer was missing and reality blurred around her as she watched. Something evil crept closer. _

_ There was immortal fear now that filled the divine. _

** _*Restore the Red Dragon, Daughter of the World… SAVE US*_ **

_ The mountain beneath Naomi’s feet crumbled and she watched as her beloved Gods screamed in agony. It was like nothing she had ever heard. The coils of the Great One seemed to come undone and the world trembled and fell into a corrupt darkness that went on forever. _

_ It is said that we are born from darkness and to darkness we shall return... _

_ She screamed as she fell, wrapping her arms around herself as if to protect those pieces within her, so fragile and indestructible. She fell and fell and fell… _

_ Spinning wildly out of control, Naomi was afraid that she would hit the ground and shatter… or she would keep falling for eternity. _

_ *I would not let that happen, my daughter.* _

_ A feather light feminine voice said and Naomi came to rest amidst the blackness that somehow seemed comforting. She breathed easy and caressed the Gods inside her lovingly. _

_ Then She appeared. _

_ She was beautiful and terrible and perfect in every way. _

_ The Lady of Blessed Night. _

_ Her wings stretched out as she settled before Naomi, almost too radiant for the young woman to behold. _

_ Her long unbound hair was night itself and Her body was cloaked in a galaxy of stars that seemed to dance around Her worshipfully. Her face was the moon and across Her eyes was a strip of twilight. It was said that in the eyes of the Lady of Blessed Night, the true form of the cosmos could be seen, the whole of the infinity of the Great One. Having seen a mere portion of Its vastness, Naomi found herself grateful that the Lady hid Her eyes. _

_ She was one of the oldest Gods. In the beginning, the Great One had birthed only Earth, Sea and Sky. The Mother of All, the Lady of Seas and the Lady of Blessed Night. From Them came the others. The multitude that Naomi now carried inside of her. _

_ In one mighty hand She wielded a sword that could cleave the heavens in half, a sign of her utter power over life and death. In the other hand She held a key that opened the door to Paradise or Rebirth. _

_ *You have done so well, my daughter, but it is time to go back. Your mission must continue.* The Lady spoke and it sounded like bat wings and star song. _

_ Her wings wrapped around Naomi in the most wondrous embrace. As each feather moved, another galaxy was revealed. _

_ *Let my brothers and sisters have their claim, Akamine Naomi. Just promise to remember that you were mine first.* _

_ Naomi bowed her head and felt the Lady kiss her forehead gently as her birth mother had. _

_ “I’m always yours, my Lady. You were my first and only for so long and I’m still as I have always been. Your weapon, Your chosen, Your child.” _

_ Everything vanished slowly. Smudging and fading out as the Lady breathed in something from Naomi, leaving her confused and lonely. _

_ She couldn’t remember what had happened, everything was a vague, jumbled blur that made no sense. _

_ *It is temporary, little one. I will veil these memories until you are ready to remember. This is my gift to you, my mortal child.* _

_ Everything faded away, but the feeling of wings wrapped around her. _

_ The Lady of Blessed Night is darkness and light, Naomi thought, and from darkness we come, in the light we live, and to the darkness we return. The young woman prayed it would always be so. _

_ *It’s up to you now, Daughter of the World. We are bound to your fate. Rise and We shall rise with you… fail and We will all fall.* _

_ Terror struck Naomi and she fought to speak, to tell her Lady that it was too much! She wasn’t strong enough to shoulder this burden! She was only one girl! _

“N… N…”

_ She wasn’t the Roghnaithe! She was an ex-pleasure slave from the Kai Empire! She was a bounty hunter, an assassin, a bodyguard! She wasn’t a hero! _

“NO!”

Naomi sat up in her bed, sweating and screaming, but not sure why she was doing so. For a moment, the world seemed to be made of sparkling scales and misty clouds, darkness and light, but as she blinked, the room she was in became mundane again.

Must have been a nightmare, she thought to herself as she flopped back on the pillow, heedless of the hurt that rushed through her from the movement. Faint light filtered in from behind the curtains and the sounds of a celebration echoed outside the window.

It was a happy sound and Naomi smiled slightly to hear it.

They all deserved a bit of joy after so long in the dark.

With that thought, the pain and memories came as familiar as a Belarusian lullaby. She closed her eyes against the onslaught, breathing through the worst of it.

It had always been like this. Relearning how to die while living. Walking away from one kind of pain and finding only the doorway to more. Waking from the nightmare and realizing that it had never ended. How long had she borne this kind of pain? It seemed like forever.

Those times of peace and happiness seemed very far away from her now.

Ah, to suffer. That was Ik-soo’s promise.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t been warned.

Somehow, it was a comfort. It was truth unadorned and clear. She was made to suffer… suffer and live. That was the key. The unspoken words that Ik-soo had left for her to figure out. To suffer and live and choose to suffer again. Choose to live again.

All was her choice.

The brutality faded from her mind slowly and Naomi concentrated on relaxing each of her muscles individually, letting it go. Breathing. Letting go of her control. Breathing. Yes, that was the way. The first steps on the road to recovery. She knew it’s well worn path, knew the markers of the trail having set them there before. This time would be easier, she told herself and tried to believe it.

Her first time on this path, she had felt utterly alone. Abandoned by humans and Gods alike. She had glutted herself on hate and vengeance, filling the hole that was left in the trauma’s wake. This time was different.

Her Gods were with her… and she wasn’t alone.

While it didn’t stop the shame and the hurt and the fear, it did help alleviate it enough that she was not spinning wildly out of control. She still knew who she was.

She was Akamine Naomi of Belarusia, Priestess of the Lady of Blessed Night, the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, the Gut Hangman, the Ripper, Master of the Dance and servant of Princess Yona of Kouka Kingdom.

It was that last title that she cherished most and which weighed on her most heavily.

She’d give up everything she had for the little princess who was her heart, the moral compass by which she fixed herself, but as Naomi carefully held her hands up and saw the damage she knew that she couldn’t have had Yona in that room with her. She wouldn’t have been able to bear it.

She wanted to see Yona with all her being, but as she pulled back the sheet and observed more reminders of Yang Kum-ji and his men, Naomi couldn’t stand the idea of her little sister seeing how cruel the world really was.

Innocent Yona would understand all too well the price Naomi paid for serving her.

Slowly sitting up Naomi looked around the room, noting her bag that was carefully arranged so she could see it the moment she sat up. It made her smile a bit, but the smile vanished with the pain.

The worst was the pain unseen. The bloody raw agony between her legs, the dry scratchy feeling in her throat and the terrible hollow ache in her lower belly where once Shin-Ah’s excess power had coiled within her. The seat of her feminine energy. It felt like something had been broken inside her flesh once more inside her and as she pressed a hand against that ache, she hoped that she would be able to forget what that it felt like someday.

Naomi stood on wobbling legs, conscious of the grinding sounds her joints made and the lighting bolts of pain deep in her bones.

“Look on the bright side. You’re alive, still have all your limbs… and you didn’t fail.” She murmured with a hoarse voice. The smile returned to her lips as she made her way step by step toward her bag.

_ No matter the cost, I didn’t fail, _ she thought.

Glancing in the mirror, she saw the wreck those men had made of her body. She could only imagine what it had looked like before when she had knelt at Kum-ji’s knee in front of his officers. 

The bruises had all begun to fade and the multitude of open wounds had been bound with clean linen.

Her one hand was still pressed against her belly and with the other she pointed at herself in the mirror, locking gazes with the beaten creature that stared desperately back at her.

“You are going to be okay. You will heal from this like you have before. You are strong enough to put this behind you and move on. Things may hurt now, but you know the pain fades eventually. You keep your eyes forward and you don’t look back. There will come a day when this will all be a memory that will vanish into history and your body won’t remember this anymore. You know the way forward. So you keep going… and you don’t look back, no matter what. You are going to be just fine.” She said to herself gently, as if she were speaking to someone else. 

It helped.

The eyes that stared back at her, the wonderful rich dark blue that her father had passed down to her, that had been filled with wounded fear and desperation seemed to clear as her own words sunk in.

There would be times when she forgot those words, she knew, but she would say them again and again till the day she didn’t need them anymore. They were her shield and her lifeline.

“You are going to get through this. I promise.” She whispered, dropping her hands down to her sides and took a deep breath.

In the reflection, she saw the mug sitting on the side table. Yoon’s silent command.

She stared a moment longer in the mirror, then turned her back to it, reaching for the mug. Next to the mug she found a folded piece of paper that piqued her interest.

She sipped the warm potion, feeling a warm languor seeping into her and read the note.

It made her arch her brow in wonder and smile.

Naomi closed the curtains and climbed back into her bed, rereading the note one more time until the medicine put her under for some long needed rest.

_ Thank you for saving them, Sunset Queen. Thank you for saving us. -The eternally grateful people of Awa Port. _

“Ha, Sunset Queen… what a queer thing to say…” She mumbled before the blessed darkness wrapped itself around her like a favorite blanket.

_ Sunset Queen… hmph… sounds like something from a tale..._

* * *

King Soo-won wandered about Awa Port in an utter daze. He knew he should have gone immediately back to where General Ju-do was waiting for him, but he couldn’t just yet. He was still stunned by the day’s revelation.

Princess Yona… alive…

Which meant Hak was still alive, still guarding her with his life like he always had.

That meant…

He thrust the thought away before it could form, gently touching the bracelet around his wrist as he always did when he thought of her, which was at least fifty times a day.

He couldn’t get his hopes up, couldn’t allow himself to believe that just maybe…

If the other two survived…

Naomi- wonderful, fierce Naomi… alive?

He wouldn’t let himself believe it because if it turned out that the Princess and Hak had survived, but she hadn’t, he was sure he would lose all control.

So he wandered about, silently observing the joyous townspeople, making gentle inquiries of those he could speak to without drawing attention, always keeping his hood up and his sword covered.

He learned the story in bits and pieces.

“The injured woman? Oh, she is tucked in that inn right down there, away from all the fuss. We don’t want to disturb her rest with our celebration. She deserves the rest, brave girl. She was one of the young women who saved us, you know? The older sister, I believe. Yes, yes, that inn right there. Don’t wake her up now, you hear? But no one will stop you from paying your respects.”

He thanked his unknowing informants and wove his way toward the inn, his heart in his throat and his hands shaking.

Inside, a kindly looking matron showed him to the room where the young woman was staying. She smiled at the fine young man who wanted to pay his respects to one of the saviors of their beloved city.

She left him alone, just outside the door.

And after a few moments of consideration, he pushed the door open and stepped across the threshold.

He would recognize that hair anywhere.

Shock, disbelief, and happiness almost brought him to his knees, but he remained on his feet till he was next to the bed where he gingerly sat down next to the sleeping woman.

The sight of her blatant injuries made him sick, but it was overwhelmed by the wild joy that raced through his veins when he looked at her face. The face he saw when he closed his eyes, that haunted his dreams, that gave him strength.

Naomi was alive.

He pulled the sheet back enough that he knew she was naked and knew with certainty that her injuries were not just confined to her face and shoulders. He traced the finger shaped bruises on her neck with his eyes and wished he dared to weep.

Beneath the bruises and cuts though, he recognized the strong lines of her face, the lips that he had kissed, the eyelashes he had wished he’d had the chance to count. He knew it was Naomi, his Queen, his strength.

She was alive. Gods help him, she was alive!

Soo-won wanted to cheer from the rooftops, take her in his arms, lock her away so she’d never get hurt again… he wanted to get on his knees and beg apology from the Lady of Blessed Night.

Yet, she had gone to such lengths to hide herself. He had heard so many reports on the new Master of the Dance he couldn’t figure lie from truth. She had stayed with Princess Yona instead of coming back to the palace. That told him something.

He didn’t feel hurt. He couldn’t, not from someone like Naomi who did everything for her own unfathomable reasons. He was incredibly curious though. He wondered what kinds of tales she would have to tell him in her caressing voice if he asked.

He ran a careful hand over her hair and smiled.

“One day, my lady fair, you and I will have to sit down for a drink and talk. I want to hear everything that has happened since I thought I had lost you. I want you to tell me about Yona and Hak and how you three get along. I want to know if you found something worth following in Yona, who I hear people call your little sister and if you and Hak fight all the time or if you found something in him too. I want to know how you got so hurt, but still managed to save a city from a corrupt lord. I want to know it all, Naomi… but your story is still unfinished and so is mine. We have much to do, you and I, so that drink will have to wait for now. Just knowing you breathe… it’s enough for me. It’s enough that you live, my Queen.”

He kissed her, the barest brush of his lips against hers, and he smiled. The King of Kouka Kingdom tucked the covers around his assassin, set something down on her side table and left the room as quietly as he entered.

It was hard to leave. He wanted to be there when she woke up and see those eyes look into his soul once more. He wanted to hear her say his name with that accent he adored so much.

There was too much to be done. Soo-won forced his feelings aside as he had done his whole life and focused on his goals. He had to look toward the future of his kingdom. Everything else, including the beautiful broken woman he loved, had to be set aside for that future.

Yes, that drink would have to wait for now.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

The night wind blowing off the sea was cool on her healing skin, and the sound of the waves soothed her troubled heart and mind.

Naomi had awoken much later barely catching the last glimpse of the sunset before night fell. She could hear the celebrations still in full swing and part of her longed to join them. For once, she wanted to join in on the celebration and forget for a moment that she was lonely.

But she couldn’t join them. Not like she wanted.

She wanted to go down as herself, as the Naomi they had all known before the battle. Her avoidance of parties was well known so that may have surprised no few of them, but they would have pulled her in, just another piece of the chaotic puzzle.

Now though, she had too many sharp edges and memories that would cut the joyous mood to ribbons. Her presence would remind everyone of the price paid to win. Oh they would try and pretend that everything was back to normal and the forced cheer would have only made her feel worse. No, she decided, let them celebrate their victory without me. They would all enjoy it more that way.

Besides, she had other concerns. Ones that could only be handled with copious amounts of alcohol and solitude.

Dressed in her practice clothes, Naomi wandered the beach with a large skin of liquor that became lighter with every step she took.

Her talisman was back where it belonged around her neck and the young woman realized how much she had missed it comforting weight. It had only been a day, but it certainly felt like an eternity, since she had divested herself of everything she was to walk into hell with open arms.

Another swig, and finally Naomi felt pleasantly numb.

It still hurt to move and she knew she still looked like a walking corpse, but no one cared about the lone shadow winding her way down the beach away from Awa. Away from all she held dearest.

She knew she shouldn’t drink in her condition. Yoon would have been furious, but what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, she reasoned with a soft smile on her split lips. With the liquor forming a barrier in her mind, the trauma didn’t seem so close to the surface.

Once or twice she hurled her guts up on the sand, nothing more than broth and liquor. When she did, she politely covered the mess with sand and threw back more alcohol to replace what she had lost. In short time she went from pleasantly tipsy to drunk and her wandering turned more into weaving, the steps unusually heavy and clumsy. Pleasantly numb to utterly and completely numb. Sober Naomi, frightened Naomi, plummeted down a deep dark hole taking all her awful memories with her. It was lonely and cold in that hole, and she was broken, screaming wretchedly at the bottom, but the liquor muted the sound and Drunk Naomi didn’t notice.

_She_ just kept trying to stroll down the sand, cursing and laughing as it moved deviously beneath her awkward feet. She cursed drunkenly in Belarusian, the normally flowing language turning to guttural mush in her mouth.

“Ohhh, Lords and Ladies I has not been thish drunk in ages on ages.” She crowed hoarsely, her throat still raw from the screaming and the salt water.

She took another deep draught from the skin.

“Thish remindsh meh... ofthe time Mashter had founded meh in tha’ naughty noblemen’s club cellahr. They had thish mostsh ticklish beverage-” She smiled placidly, thinking that to be a wonderful description. “Tha’ went down mah throats like ice, but it burneded like fire in mah belly. Wha’ a wonderful night tha’ was.”

Naomi chortled, her memory vaguely replaying the moment when she, surrounded by bottles on bottles of the rich men’s liquor, had been discovered by her most wroth Master Hiro. As it turned out, the noblemen who had been playing cards there that night had rushed to find her Master thinking he was a man who dealt with the supernatural and they swore they’d heard an angry ghost in the cellar! If she squinted, Naomi was sure she could still see the mix of shock, dismay, and amusement on his handsome face.

She had far exceeded her tolerance that night and her Master had known it. He was relatively kind in taking her back to their inn room, holding her hair when she threw up, rubbing her back and murmuring soothingly when the nightmares tore through the haze the alcohol created. He was less kind when morning came and Naomi found herself with a wicked hangover that in no way allowed her to skip out on that day’s practice.

“Ah am gonna regret thish later, eh?” She said, listening to the spirits of the wind and sea laugh around her.

The world was so alive now. She could feel it with every fiber of her being, with every breath she took into her bruised lungs. It was as if that other sense she had always carried had blossomed into a new richness.

“Ish only cuz Ah’m drunk right?” She asked, going to take another drink, but finding the skin empty. The wind and waves tittered at her and the stars winked mischievously.

Naomi dropped the skin and crooned to herself, “No more.”

She continued stumbling down the beach, arms wrapped around herself, muttering and laughing strangely.

Once she strolled into the water and found a pale odd looking fish floating in the shallows, it’s silver orb eyes gazing at her. She stared back utterly hypnotized and whispered, “I can see into your soul, brother mine.”

The fish swam away.

She startled a group of bats hanging from a cliff side with a particularly loud and bawdy Belarusian drinking song and she laughed and twirled around as they flew off, offended by the annoying boisterous creature that had disturbed them.

She doubted anyone would recognize this strange half version of Naomi. She was herself, but not. All the mystery had been stripped away from her, all the strength and control that she had held so rigidly in check for so long. She was only a very drunk young woman, wandering down a lonely beach, dancing just out of reach of the nightmares that nipped at her heels.

How could anyone know who she was?

She didn’t even know herself.

Sadly for her, the alcohol’s effects began to decline. The stuff was nothing if not a poison and her body, though broken and battered, was still blessed by the Gods. Too soon, she felt she could hear someone screaming.

Not to say that sobriety was anywhere close. The haze seemed to lighten though as she peaked in her drunkenness and began to descend.

_ Please stop screaming_, she asked herself, _ everything will be okay. He’s dead. They are all dead. And if they aren’t dead I will kill them. _

The screaming in her mind and soul continued.

She wanted to cry, felt like she needed to cry, but the tears were nowhere to be found. Her eyes were terrifyingly dry and seemed to ache with the pressure of her suppressed emotions.

“Iss not fair,” she murmured, touching her fingertips to the bruised skin beneath her eyes. Her feet stumbled as she gasped from the pain even that little contact caused. When the black spots across her vision cleared, she looked around and was drunkenly surprised to find that she had walked almost all the way back to that hidden little port that had once housed the Pirates of Awa.

_Such a pretty spot_, she thought to herself, her eyes tracing the lines of the cliffs that shadowed themselves against the brightness of the stars. She played the happy memories through her mind of the time she had spent there content with her family. She clung fiercely to the memory of Hak dragging the brush through her hair and the feeling of the dying sun’s rays on her face.

The beach was littered with the broken bones of the cliffs, stones that had fallen so long ago they were now a feature of the shore itself. They looked like black teeth rising from the faintly glowing sand, the tallest almost reaching her shoulder.

Her hand gently caressed the top of one that rose to her waist, taking in some of the solid strength of it through her torn and bruised hand.

For a moment, the world quieted as if it held its breath.

Then the wind picked up for a moment tugging some of the hair forward to tickle her face as it hissed around her in warning.

There was movement among the rocks. A shadow among shadows, grunting and heaving itself up the shore.

The world keened in Naomi’s ears sending her heart to pounding without knowing exactly why.

She wanted to run. Like a terrified rabbit, she wanted to sprint away from the shadows and disappear. That reaction terrified the young woman more than anything. She had once again learned to fear the unknown, to fear the darkness. Terror dragged her drunken mind into an almost lucid state of fight or flight.

_ I will not be afraid _ , she said fiercely to that part of herself that hadn’t stopped screaming, _ I will not cower in fear of the dark. I am a Priestess of the Lady of Blessed Night and I refuse to fear the shadows for they belong to me. _

On unsteady feet, Naomi crept toward the creature in the dark. Her body shivered, but she remained quieter than a cat.

She was almost on top of her quarry when it uttered a string of ugly curses.

Her body convulsed and it took all of Naomi’s shaky willpower not to gasp.

She knew that voice.

It was embedded in the marrow of her bones, etched in agony across her skin, and it danced through her nightmares now.

Yang Kum-ji hauled his large, hulking form to one of the larger stones and propped himself up on it, the broken shaft of a familiar arrow still sticking from his chest.

Naomi gazed at him, not needing the light to trace his features in the dark. Sand and seawater crusted his bristled beard and spiked his hair. He had lost his finery to the Lady of Seas and pain and hatred lit his eyes like a madness. He looked ferocious and evil, like a monster that made up some of her people’s horror stories.

He was her nightmare come to life.

Yona had missed his heart.

Yang Kum-ji lived.

“Heh. I lived you bitches. I lived and I will make you all regret your disobedience,” the man growled to the darkness. The words made Naomi’s throat swell shut and she huddled in the shadow of one of the shore’s smaller teeth, feeling the hysteria rising inside her.

Drunk and terrified, she fought not to be sick. No weapons about her and certainly no wits, she already felt at his mercy- and he didn’t even know she was there.

“And for you, Princess Yona, for you I have something special planned. It might take me years, but I am a patient man. For you I will wait a lifetime. I will haunt your every step, I will be the monster at your heels every moment of your life till I finally take you. Then…” Kum-ji sighed with pleasure, “I will make what I did to your so called sister look like a child’s game. You will regret stepping one foot into my city. You will regret not letting King Soo-won murder you. You will regret the day you were _born_.”

His words were filled with such malice, such naked hatred. And he meant every word of it.

Yona had become the compass point to which he fixed his fury, his defeat, his lust, and his vengeance on. His madness was his obsession and he would do exactly as he had promised. He would torture her for everything he had lost because of her. The pirates, the dragons, even Naomi didn’t matter to him. Only Yona, who had been brave enough to kill him.

The things he had done to Naomi merely out of lust would be nothing compared to what he would do to her most precious person.

Naomi’s stomach rebelled at the thought and the memories, despite her conscious efforts to control it.

She choked and vomited in the sand, nothing more than liquid and bile.

And Yang Kum-ji saw her.

At first, he bared his teeth with wild fury. If he had not been so drained by his time in the water and the pain, he would have tried to kill her. Then he watched her twitch and shake, not daring to lift her head to meet his eyes.

Then he smiled.

“Ah… my little bird,” He said with relish.

Naomi cough and vomited again.

“You lied to me, clever girl. I had something special planned for you as well. Seeing you now, I feel much better about my abilities to bring bitches to heel. You may have defied me, but you know who your true Master is now, don’t you?”

Finally, once she ceased gagging, Naomi raised her head to meet the eyes of her abuser. The world around her swirled and blurred into a dark dreamscape, but he remained painfully clear. She knew every line of his animalistic face, every curve of his predatory eyes, and every facet of his slimy, pitiful soul.

Carefully she got to her feet, trying to stop the shaking that gave away her fear so easily.

“You… are no master of mine.” She croaked.

Yang Kum-ji’s smile deepened. “Even you don’t believe that, little bird. We have a connection. We are bound together, you and I.”

Naomi shook her head and leaned against the stone for support as she dizzied herself.

His dark chuckle set the hairs on Naomi’s neck to rising.

“You belong to me.”

Naomi felt cold all over, “I belong to no one, especially a monster like you. We won. You lost. I was never _ever_ yours.”

“I am your monster,” He growled, pleasure saturating his voice as he saw her pale even further. “I own you. Every single piece of you is mine. You’re my little bird whose wings I clipped so you could never fly away from me. No matter where you go, what you do, or where you hide- I will always be there with you.”

Despite her efforts, her shaking only grew worse as his words tore through her mind and left her bleeding.

“Never.” She whispered.

“Always.” He replied.

_ He can’t be_, she tried to tell herself, _ he isn’t. He never will be. _

Yet his memory hung around her like a miasma; the feeling of his brutal hands never leaving her skin, the sound of his voice wrapping around her ears, the scent of his musk filling her nose.

“You can never escape me.” He taunted, smiling in his insanity.

“I already have.” She threw back, desperately trying to get him out of her senses.

He lunged for her and she screamed, throwing herself back, and slamming her spine into another stone with her heart pounding like a fast drum in her chest.

He laid in the sand on his back and laughed.

“I’m inside you, little bird. You will never be rid of me.”

“No.” She whimpered which only made him laugh more.

“I am a part of you! Live forever, little bird!” He laughed wildly, evil eyes alight with malice and joy. “I will be alive within you! I can never die!”

Maybe it was his choice of words, words that ripped Naomi to shreds of horror and despair, but it was then that the Dark Lady descended into Her daughter’s soul and gave one command.

Naomi stopped shaking and merely stared at the mad creature who bellowed his laughter to the night sky.

She just stared.

And then she walked away.

_ She walked away. _

“Fly away, little bird, fly away! I am always with you! I will never die! I will-”

Naomi came hobbling back with cruel determination in her pain-filled eyes.

She raised the heavy rock over her head and watched Yang Kum-ji’s eyes widen before she brought it down with all the strength in her body.

He wasn’t laughing anymore.

She raised the rock, now wet with his filthy blood, and brought it down again.

The Lady laughed at the sound of his bones shattering.

Naomi raised the rock, ignoring the pain in her shoulders and arms and brought it down again.

And again.

And again.

She wasn’t sure when she had started to scream, but the beach echoed with living embodiment of her rage and her pain and her grief and despair.

She smashed that rock down on his body, giving back what he had forced on her, collecting the payment for her suffering in slow inches. Oh, how good it felt to unleash it all.

Every memory she had of him and his cruelty, she pounded into his defenseless flesh, screaming all the while, letting her own madness take over. Within that storm, she didn’t feel the pain in her body. She couldn’t see his face any longer, his voice was silenced, his hands were pulp on the sand, and his scent was lost to the blood in the air. She erased him little bit by little bit, crushing his memory beneath the weight of that rock and her fury.

_ You are gone_, she wanted to say, _ there is nothing left of you in me. You have no control over me and this time you will _stay _dead. _

But no words emerged from her mouth. Only that violent battlecry that resounded off the cliffs like a song of victory.

Blood splattered her like a painting, the taste of it making her feel drunker than the alcohol had.

Finally, his body from neck to feet was nothing, but torn and twisted muscles, ripped organs and shattered bone. There was nothing left of him untouched, just as he had left her, bloody and utterly broken. He was still there, just barely, but she could sense it. A glimmer of self still within. She let out one last wild cry of revenge and agony before she brought the rock down on his head.

_ You will stay dead this time. _

His face caved in and his brain squelched out onto the sand mixed with the shards of his skull.

Suddenly, the screaming was gone.

A sweet breeze coasted down the beach and cooled the back of Naomi’s neck, filling her lungs as she raggedly drew in rasping gasps of air.

The Lady’s approval made the stars flare.

The stone fell from Naomi’s hands and she sat back on her heels, exhausted and drained, but oddly at peace for the moment.

_ He’s gone_, she thought. “Gone…” She sighed to the wind.

The moment was interrupted when her awareness caught the person standing a few feet from her, watching her.

She raised her head and saw Jae-ha with an odd look on his face.

The peace was gone and Naomi was left speechless with the pain inside her.

That’s when the tears came.

Like a dam being released, they flooded down her blood splattered cheeks and dripped onto the red soaked sand.

Sobs ripped from her chest and burned her already raw throat like a hot brand.

She wrapped her aching arms around her, now fully aware of the strain in her shoulders and back, the new scrapes on her palms and fingers.

There was a rustle behind her as Jae-ha sat cross-legged behind her, waiting carefully. He wouldn’t touch her without her permission, unsure if she could handle being touched at the moment.

She gulped back the agony for a second to turn and look at him.

There was such compassion in his normally fierce eyes as he opened his arms, a quiet invitation. All she had to do was accept it.

She hadn’t realized how much she had needed human contact until, with her little turn towards him, he gathered her into his strong arms and tucked her onto his lap where he began to rock her as gently as a child.

A small part of her flinched from a man’s touch, but the greater part of her was just so relieved he was still willing to touch her, to hold her after all that had happened. That _she_ was still willing to be touched after it all.

She wept into his coat, smearing it with Kum-ji’s blood and soaking it in her tears. He didn’t mind it one bit.

He held her loosely, sheltering her with his body and his presence.

All of her emotions fell from her eyes onto his chest, the release she had been searching for all down the beach and at the bottom of that skin of drink.

The Gods of the world smiled sadly in Naomi’s soul and simply understood.

Too soon and not soon enough, the sobs faded into sniffles. The tears were all out and with them the destructive emotions that had carried Naomi from the sea.

When she spoke, her voice was a raspy shadow of itself.

“He… he survived. The arrow… was an inch too high…”

Jae-ha said nothing for a moment, cradling Naomi’s face to his chest, wishing for a moment that he had never let her step foot on Captain Gi-gan’s ship that day. He wished he could’ve saved her from it all.

_ She didn’t deserve this. Any of this_, he thought sadly.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize it. I saw the arrow hit him. Saw him fall into the water. I was sure he was dead,” he murmured huskily.

Naomi sniffed and clenched her fingers into his coat, “I’m glad.”

Jae-ha paused his rocking for a moment in confusion, but continued when she spoke again.

“I’m glad he survived. I’m glad he found his way to the shore. I’m glad I found him. If I hadn’t, part of me would’ve always wondered if he had somehow lived. He would’ve followed me the rest of my days. I would have never been sure that he was dead.”

Jae-ha looked at the pulpy mess that lay bare for the world to see.

“Well, my lady, I’m absolutely sure of it now. He is very, very dead.” He whispered, brushing his thumb along the cheek he cradled as delicately as fragile glass.

Some of the lingering tension left her body and she relaxed into his rocking motion.

“Yes. He’s gone. Every single piece of him is gone.”

She wasn’t sure he would understand that she wasn’t just talking about his body. She knew when he pressed his lips ever so gently, but firmly to her hair.

It felt nice.

It felt so nice to lean on someone else’s strength, someone she could trust.

She didn’t realize how tired she was till she startled awake as Jae-ha stood up still carrying her in his arms.

He had forgotten how small she was and how surprisingly heavy she was for someone so tiny.

“Come, Sunset Queen. It’s time to tuck you into bed before Yoon finds out you were out. You don’t want him to scold you now, do you?”

Before she could reply, she felt his muscles tighten beneath him- and suddenly they were airborne.

It was as wonderful as she thought it would be.

She thought it would be scarier, but she knew Jae-ha would never drop her. Instead she watched the world below grow smaller and the stars grow a little closer.

Naomi discovered that Jae-ha didn’t so much as fly as leap far and high through the air. It still felt like flying and it was a lovely feeling of weightlessness when they soared over the cliffs back towards Awa.

She hoped he wouldn’t mind if she asked him to let her do it again when she was feeling better. She loved every second of it.

It was an exhilarating experience.

Naomi was fast asleep before Jae-ha landed.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

When she awoke late in the afternoon, Naomi was surprised to find herself, clean, in bed and with a wicked hangover.

Groaning softly she willed the sun to go back below the horizon or for clouds to come and dampen its stingings rays. The light felt like nails driving behind her eyes into her still tender brain.

Her bandages had been rewrapped and smelled fragrantly of senjusou. She hadn’t remembered that.

In fact, she couldn’t remember how she had gotten back to her little room at the inn. Only the feeling of soaring with the clouds before sleep had claimed her.

She hadn’t forgotten the rest.

Alcohol blurred much of the night, but many things were still clear in her mind.

One arm flung over her eyes and the other hand rested on her stomach as Naomi relived the events that had led her to flying with Jae-ha over the cliffs.

_ He’s gone for good _ , she thought.  _ Yang Kum-ji no longer exists _ .

The relief and satisfaction settled comfortably in her belly underneath her resting hand. She had collected her debt from Yang Kum-ji in full. He was gone and she was safe. For now, she was safe.

Raising her aching arm up slightly off her eyes to glance down at herself she was pleased to find that she had healed even more while she slept. The open wounds that had slashed across her ivory skin had begun to knit together and close, the bruises had faded to a pale yellow. She’d have some new scars, both within and without, but nothing had permanently disabled her. Nothing, thankfully, had come close to the painful, lingering damage that the cave-in had done.

To be fair, had she been a little more prepared for a cave-in, there probably wouldn’t have been as much damage. This new nightmare she had been ready for and she had done her best to mitigate the physical damage received. The psychological damage… well, she’d handle that as it came. 

Part of the debt had been paid. There was still a remainder to be collected.

Her eyes ticked toward the window and the slanting painful sunlight. It would be a few more hours until dark. A few more hours to recover…

Her eye was caught by the pile of offering that had built up on her side table. Little gifts and trinkets that had been left for the girl who had paid the price for the port town’s freedom. There was a letter, with Naomi’s name written in Yona’s flowing hand on the outside. This Naomi gently took into her individually bandaged fingers.

Her tired eyes traced the lines and a little smile hovered at the corners of her mouth. When she unfolded the delicate paper, she caught the faintest whiff of the young Princess’ floral scent and it made Naomi’s heart ache with longing.

She read the carefully written letter and laughed quietly- until the laughter turned to silent tears.

_ … I know we don’t have the right to ask you to continue on with us after what happened, but I will ask nonetheless. Naomi, will you come with me when I leave Awa? If you wish to stay, I will understand, but know that I can hardly bear the thought of leaving my beloved sister behind. We leave tomorrow morning to find the last of the dragons and we will wait for you in the forests above Awa till noon. I love you, big sister, and thank you for saving us. _

_ Yona _

The thought of leaving filled her with weariness and elation. She wanted nothing more than to wash her hands of this place and it’s awful memories, but leaving also meant facing the unknown which promised more pain and suffering.

It also promised love and family and adventure.

The risk and the reward.

She folded the letter and set it back on the side table when a shining glint caught her eye amid the baubles.

She reached for it with slow achy fingers.

At first she thought it a ribbon, but in her hands it was a long length of braided, wheat gold hair tied at both ends with tightly wrapped melted wax thread. It was as long as her forearm and it was silky soft beneath her bruised fingertips.

She rubbed it along her scarred cheek and inhaled the curiosity of the stranger’s gift. It smelled like… books. Books and fresh grass- maybe a touch of sword polish. How fascinating. Naomi wondered what all the braids she had left behind told of her. Holding it in her hand, she felt a glow of warmth and the lightest tinkle of bells rang in her ears. Gratitude was a sweet, sentimental sort of love to find. Even if it made her feel a bit ill to think on for too long.

“How kind,” she murmured in her mother tongue before she tucked the length of hair and Yona’s letter into her shakuhachi case to keep with her. She smiled at the odd assortment of mementos she carried with her like talismans of bittersweet memories.

Then Naomi set to repacking her bags and pouches for the next day's journey. It helped settle her spirit to think that she was finally back to chasing dragons and protecting her precious princess. Back to the simple act of living.

She still couldn’t bring herself to dress in her own clothes, assembling the armor she had constructed over the years. Naomi wasn’t quite ready to don the mask of the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, and Master of the Dance.

There was still one last thing she had to do. 

* * *

Darkness settled once more and once more Naomi set forth into the night with only a bag slung across her body.

Only this time, she moved farther into the city, slinking silent as an alley cat through the shadows.

She dressed in a dark roughspun gown she had found in the closet of her room and wrapped a loose knit scarf around her head and face in disguise. It was baggy on her, but she found it a good thing- considering all the bandages she had rewrapped around her body. She remained cautiously concerned over how many of them were still turning bloodstained. Not enough to panic, but enough for God-Touched Naomi to feel nervous. 

The port town was resting peacefully beneath a thin crescent moon, unaware of the danger treading its streets toward one goal.

The jailhouse.

It was on the outskirts of the town, stoutly built with thick walls and strong bars. It was roofless, but for the crisscrossed beams that prevented any criminal from thinking they could climb out.

Naomi knew she could escape it in a trice.

She walked through the doorway to find the men in two long separate cells, chained together by the ankles and wrists with the chain connected to the two opposite walls. Most were sleeping and those that weren’t stared into space mindlessly- numb from the sudden loss of all the petty power they’d had.

Naomi looked around and smiled a small, frigid smile.

The sound of her unchaining the first gang from the walls startled most of the men awake. They blinked at her groggily and uncertain. She didn’t speak.

When she unfastened the chain from the second gang and bound the two sets of men together, one man finally asked who she was.

Still cloaked in shadow and starlight, her features hidden, none of the men recognized the slim figure. When she didn’t speak, many men grew fearful. More of them asked her who she was or what she was doing.

Naomi ignored all of them as if they were nothing more than ghosts already.

She gripped the front of the chain in her bandaged hand and gave it a firm yank that sent the first few men stumbling. When she started forward it took the men a few moments and many almost-trips to shuffle out in a long line behind her.

The sound of chains clinking together and the muted thud of the men’s heavy footsteps seemed to be the only noises in the night. They bounced around the streets and echoed in the alleys, but no one looked out their window or opened their door.

She led them out of the city.

One of the men wondered why they didn’t try to escape, even as bound and chained as they were. She was one and they were many, but he nor any other man spoke a word, keeping their heads down and their feet moving in time with each other steadily.

She led them farther from the city, angling herself toward the cliffs beside the Vanishing Cape, where Yona had fetched the senjusou and joined a pirate crew.

There she had made a promise to claim what was hers. Her Gods had listened to her prayers and promises- so had her Master. Her most beloved Master Hiro, whom the Dark Lady cared for so dearly, who had been her everything. All she knew of freedom and control and living in exile, she had learned from him. Her first chosen future, her perfect life out of utter tragedy, her  _ soulmate _ . He loved her so well that she had never known it. He respected her and feared for her, trusted her, and grew to find that he adored her torn, healing, fighter’s soul.

His last pupil, little Naomi, fierce as dragons. He taught her everything she knew. And how well he taught her.

Beneath her scarf she began to sing in a haunting ritual hymn and the wind whistled through the trees that bordered the hills. The branches danced in the breeze and their rustling counterpointed with the distant crash of the waves; intertwining with the liquid syllables falling from Naomi’s healing lips.

Many of the men began to shake as they listened to the Belarusian music that echoed in the world around them. It frightened them, whispering like a dark spell through the night.

Their knees began to go weak and sweat broke out on their brows in spite of the cool wind.

And Naomi only continued to sing in that beautiful, alien language as she called to the Lords and Ladies of Belarusia to bear witness to her first reclaimed ritual.

Finally, she led them to the crest of the cliffs just beyond the Vanishing Cape, where the rising moon painted the grasses silver and the sea to a rippling obsidian. There she brought the stumbling chained men to a halt.

The wind still sang and the crashing of waves against the cliff face rumbled beneath them.

The men, of which there stood thirty-eight bound and frightened, gathered around each other staring at the malevolent creature that had dragged them to this ordinary place that seemed like another world.

Without stopping her chant, moving from one ritual hymn another without faltering, she pulled from her bag four stakes and a small hammer. Not wasting any movement, Naomi staked the men into two lines and withdrew two more items from her bag reverently, laying them in the grass a step in front of her facing the cliffside.

Once that was done, she stood and removed her bag, tossing it to one side and raising her arms to the moon with one final mournful note spilling from her lips as her Gods settled around her to witness. When it ended, as solemn as Priest, Naomi intoned her invocation:

_ “Lords and Ladies, Gods of the World, Most High and Exalted Ones, hearken to thy daughter’s call to bear witness this blessed night. These men have sinned against You and Your child and this night they must pay for their crimes. I pray that You accept my bloody offering as I demand justice for my mind, body, and soul and reclaim what I had lost long ago.” _

The stars flared once and Naomi turned to face her debtors.

The silence grew taut as she carefully unwound the scarf from her head and tossed it away carelessly.

In the light of the crescent moon, the criminals gazed in horror and awe at the battered, beautiful young woman who spoke one harsh word in guttural Koukan.

“Kneel.”

An implacable command, one that held no tolerance for disobedience and all the savagery of the wild places of the world.

Every man knelt and bowed his head, many already having recognized the exquisite face and form of Yang Kum-ji’s last victim. She had healed remarkably fast for someone who had been beaten near to death and raped out of her mind, some thought as they began praying to any God they thought could hear them.

The Gods listened. The Gods ignored them. Their debts were too steep for mercy.

Her sunken blue eyes gazed upon Yang Kum-ji’s men, recognizing faces here and there. She waited for the rush of hatred and anguish to spout from within her seeing them all like sheep before her. But there was only silence, and the hum of the Divine- the song of infinity whispering in her ears telling Naomi that all would be well. She was a Priestess and her Gods had gathered.

_ Nagashima Hiro put his hand on her shoulder and smiled wickedly. _

Naomi raised her hand and pointed at the group of kneeling lambs and recited, as if from a passage in a holy book, the words that would condemn these men to their punishment.

“You have sinned against the Gods of Belarusia, men of Kouka Kingdom, through the torture of their Priestess and this night They call for justice. In Belarusia, an attack upon a sworn priestess is an attack upon the Gods and the punishment is death. The manner of death fits the severity of the crime. Pain will pay with pain, fear will pay with fear, and blood will pay with blood.”

Some of the men began weeping, some moaned with despair, and some of them merely gasped for air, realizing that tonight they would die.

Some of them would die horribly and none knew how yet they would be taken to the Underworld.

Naomi turned to face the moon and stooped to pick up the two items she had left in the sweet grass.

One of her bone handled knives, the imprint of her Master within them, filling her with ripe, furious energy. He had a few times on bloody moons described the old practices he wished to treat the Warlords who had invaded his homeland and tortured his apprentice to.

This was one of Naomi’s favorites.

The blade was bone handled and shaped differently from some of her other blades. This was a ceremonial knife, only to be used in ritual. This particular blade hadn’t yet been used before and it’s gleaming steel practically ached for blood and the feeling of sliding its virgin edges through muscle and bone.

Naomi ran her fingers over the steel, admiring its graceful broad leaf shape and the dark whorls born of hundreds of folds in the forge.

The second item was a simple silver bowl, a gift from her nightstand. It fit in her open hand well and Naomi found it’s elegant shape appealing. She took a deep breath before taking the knife in her right hand and angling it just beneath the left curve of her jaw where her artery beat gently beneath the blade’s edge.

As delicate as a surgeon, Naomi carefully dragged the blade down across the pale skin of her throat following her jawline. No more than two inches in length and only deep enough for the blood to flow free, Naomi cut herself and positioned the bowl beneath the wound to gather the God-Touched blood that would mark each man.

The bowl filled quickly even as the wound slowly scabbed over, leaving Naomi feeling only slightly dizzy and full of exhilaration. She knew she needed to be careful, but it was hard to remember when she felt so powerful, so blessedly vindicated.

She slowly walked to the first man and stared into his face with eyes that didn’t look human. She saw her blood like a glowing aura splattered across his hands and face and she saw no remorse in his heart. His fear nearly masked his malevolent lust for the things he had done to her. Almost, but not enough to hide it from those burning sapphire eyes.

She dipped three fingers into the still warm blood and ran them down his forehead whispering a prayer for his already damned soul.

The next one she did the same. And the next one. And the next one.

One she came upon who wept piteously. Naomi beheld him and saw the telltale mark of her blood on his soul and she dipped her fingers into the blood to mark him for death.

Then he wailed fearfully, trying to cover his face, “I was forced to do it! Please, don’t kill me! I didn’t want to hurt you! I was forced!”

Naomi paused, assessing him once more, seeing the lies and truth amid his stinking fear.

For a moment, she seemed to smile at the poor little man kneeling before her, but it was merely a trick of the light as she traced a different mark on his forehead than the other men she had judged.

Two circles connected by a single smear across his brow. 

He wept and she moved on.

One by one she marked them according to their sins. One man she beheld and she saw more stains on his soul than just her blood. Other men had been like that, those who had used their paltry power over the citizens of Awa to abuse the people. This one though had the blood of a girl Naomi had seen before.

She remembered the dark little room filled with despair ridden women. A girl on the bud of becoming a woman, the dark bruise covering her cheek and the way she had clung to Naomi like a lifeline.

Naomi hadn’t realized the damage done then. She knew it now and dipped her palm into the slow emptying bowl of blood before pressing it to his forehead with a finality that pierced deep into the man’s already howling heart.

He would not die well.

On and on till the last man was marked.

He cried and begged that he had only watched what was done to her. He hadn’t laid a hand on her.

She saw it was marginally true. He hadn’t participated in her systematic ravishment, but he had joined in her humiliation and beatings. If he wasn’t utterly impotent, he would have joined in the fun. She read all that in his heart and marked him carefully, murmuring a last prayer for the remnants of Yang Kum-ji’s army. 

She spoke softly in Koukan to him, her voice full of malicious gentleness.

“Then it is fitting that you will sit here and watch all your comrades die first. You, you I will save for my last offering. With you, watcher, justice at last will be served.”

There was only a little under half a bowl of blood left and it was beginning to congeal and darken. Naomi wondered if it would be enough.

She walked back to the front of the group, facing the moon once more. It had risen higher and seemed to halo her head like horns.

With quick practiced movements, she slit the other side of her neck below the jawline and filled the bowl once more, leaving two bloody tracks down her neck to the bandages across her chest and shoulders.

With the bowl full of hot blood raised to the beauty of the moon and sea, she called out in deep resonate Belarusian the words her Master had once taught her.

_ “Hear me, creatures of the deep. Children of the Mother of Monsters, heed my call. Come and accept tribute to blessed Belarusia. Demons of salt and brine, come to feast.” _

She tipped the silver bowl, spilling the blood as red as her hair to the sea below. For a moment, the wind didn’t blow and the waves barely stirred.

Then the Lady of Seas seemed to roar in Naomi’s skull with a voice so ancient and powerful, if it had been calling her, she would have jumped off the cliff to obey without a thought of rebellion in her.

The Mother of Monsters called to Her brood and Her children obeyed. They followed the summons all the way to the west coast, drawn to the scent of blood and power in the water.

Beneath the cliffs, the sea began to boil and bubble ominously.

The sight made Naomi sigh with pleasure, an echo of the Lady of Seas’ joyous laughter.

She turned to the marked men and tossed the bowl to where her bag and scarf lay, keeping only her knife in one of her blood crusted hands. In the other she held a key.

Naomi stepped away from the roiling sea and stepped ceremoniously to the first man who held only hate in his heart. Naomi unlocked him from his chains and dragged him by his collar to the cliff’s edge while the others watched on wondering what was going to happen to them.

“And so we begin,” Naomi murmured to herself, tucking the key in her dress pocket.

The man stood, silhouetted in the bright moonlight, with blood on his brow and evil in his eyes.

“Whatever I die here for tonight, just know I don’t regret a second of it. I enjoyed my ride between your thighs and any man here who says differently is a liar. Dying here is worth everything I took, whore.” He spat each word, red faced and gasping, like a curse and meant every one.

But Naomi didn’t react.

She only grabbed him by his collar once more and forced his face down over the edge.

“Look down,” she whispered in his ear.

Unable to stop himself, he gazed down at the sea below them. All the color in his blustery

face drained away leaving him pale as milk.

“That is your fate, little man. That is the punishment for what you did,” She whispered before yanking him to his feet.

“No,” he gasped, “no, no, no.”

“Yes,” Naomi purred, fingertips tracing the hungry edges of her blade.

She stepped toward him with unearthly grace, raising the ceremonial blade. The folded steel flashed in the starlight as she sliced his inner thighs and the muscles of his biceps, splashing spots of his fear stricken blood across her skin. The movements were so clean and elegant that he didn’t even cry out before Naomi put her foot in the middle of his chest.

Naomi smiled and her Gods howled as the bleeding man tumbled over the edge of the cliff, where at the bottom awaited him a court of true monsters. He screamed all the way down. There was a splash. A few more garbled screams. Then nothing, but the churning of the water and the laughter of cruel, vengeful Gods.

Naomi stared after him for a moment before turning back to the group where the second man in the row quaked. There was no mercy in Naomi’s eyes and no weakness in her heart. This was what she was owed- what all the women who had suffered under these men and their families were owed.

The ones who had merely participated in the beatings had their throats slit before they were forced over the edge. That was the one condition of mercy Naomi gave, fitting the punishment with the crime. The ones who had raped her knew no such kindness.

They died swallowing sea water as the Mother of Monsters’ brood feasted on their flesh. Dozens and dozens of shark fins stirred the water with their deadly grace, while here and there Naomi spotted the dagger toothed, silver scaled sea dragons arching through the tumultuous waters. Naomi even saw tentacles rising from the dark water and the rumbling roar of the small krakens roused from their slumber and ravenously hungry.

Whirlpools opened and closed, the charbodii sucking down the bloody scraps left by the other denizens of the deep and any creature foolish enough to linger near them. Many headed scyllas screeched and snapped pieces from the bodies, desperate to fill their seven stomachs.

More came as they began to fill their bellies with the sin tainted flesh of Kum-ji’s men.

Naomi offered them up as payment for the agony they had writ across her life and body, and the terror they had steeped their town in for so long. She saw memories, but they could not hold her- the ritual protected her healing psyche with clarity and purpose. 

The balding man who cried that he had been forced to hurt her had been asked a simple question.

“Who forced you to rape me? Who forced you to beat me? Tell me. Who?”

The man’s eyes flicked to someone down the line from him and he trembled when he cried, “Yang Kum-ji forced me. I didn’t have a choice!”

Naomi chuckled deep in her chest. It was a terrifying sound.

“Yang Kum-ji didn’t even know you existed. He didn’t care whether you did it or not as long as it was done. And I remember your face. I also remember his face,” She said, crouching in front of the wiry haired man who bore a close resemblance to the other fellow.

She unlocked him and pushed him to the cliff along with his brother.

The balding one was the younger one, judging by how the other man held him closely.

They looked at her as she leveled her hungry blade at them. “You forced him to rape me. You forced him to beat me. Now you will both pay the price for your sins.”

Her eyes were fathomless and her face calm as the moon.

“Throw him to the sea,” She commanded the wiry haired brother who blanched with horror, “Or I will throw you both over, alive and screaming.”

The men behind her were mute with terror and dread as the older brother begged and Naomi only stared, her blade still pointed in undeniable command.

Standing at the precarious edge, the older brother wept an apology to his younger brother who gazed at him wide eyed with disbelief.

It only took a second for the older brother with the wiry hair to snap the neck of his little brother and let the body fall silently over the edge to the waiting horde. His death was at least painless.

Naomi stepped toward the remaining brother, caressing his cheek with her razor edged knife. “You are a decent older brother despite being a miserable excuse for a man.”

The man spoke as if a boulder lay on his heart, “If it hadn’t been for me, he never would have been in Kum-ji’s service. I owed him for the fate I brought him.” The tears he wept fell and slide down the edge of her knife which she brought to her lips for a taste.

They tasted like retribution.

The man didn’t wait for Naomi to push him over the edge. He stepped backwards into the abyss and went to his death as silently as his brother.

Naomi moved on to the next man.

On and on till she came to the man who had a fifteen year old’s blood saturating his soul. In his death, Naomi took delight.

For him, nothing would do but execution of the most vicious nature. She listened to him scream as she sawed his hands and feet off tossing them to the scyllas and the sea dragons who called for more, more, more.

She dragged him bleeding and weeping to the cliff where she disemboweled him dispassionately and cut little bits of him off to feed the ever growing brood who had come to take tribute. Finally, she threw his barely living, hollowed out torso to the krakens that had risen up on the edges of the frenzy.

His was messy, but he owed many women in pain and suffering. His punishment too, fit his crime.

It was a lengthy offering, but a complete one. The virgin blade had tasted its share of flesh and blood and was much sated by the time Naomi finally came to stand before the watcher who stared at her with dull, lifeless eyes. He had watched as all his ex-comrades had paid their dues to their last victim.

He was the only one left.

“Well, watcher, tell me. Was it well done?” She asked, her pale blood spattered cheeks glowing under the crescent moon that had ridden high in the sky.

The last man bowed his head to the ground, remembering every moment of his ordeal.

_ Was it well done? _

“It was well done, my lady.” He whispered in a ragged voice. Naomi only smiled at him as she unlocked his chains.

He rose on unsteady feet and followed Naomi to the cliff, the last lamb to the slaughter.

She turned to him and he saw once more how beautiful she was. Beneath the blood and bruises and bandages, she was lovelier than all the sunsets he’d seen in his life.

Together they teetered at the edge as the Gods watched on for the ending of the bloodiest Belarusian ritual in centuries.

“With your life, the debt to me is repaid. I am free.” She murmured, carefully pressing her lips to the watcher’s trembling ones. She tasted of blood and salt, senjusou and apples. His eyes were closed when she slid her blade between his ribs and into his heart.

Time seemed to slow as he fell away from her, tearing his bloodless lips away from her warm ones, falling into the red foamed waters below.

“Free,” Naomi breathed, with no one, but wind, sea, and sky to hear.

The Gods of Belarusia caressed Their daughter’s cracked and bruised soul, loving her for the monster she was, before returning to where They belonged. Only the Lady of Blessed Night remained as Her divine sister, hummed a soothing lullaby that began to disperse her dangerous, sated children back to the deeps

Naomi sagged, knife still in hand, exhausted from her night’s work, but it was done. She had done her duty as a Priestess of Belarusia and meted out justice where justice was due.

_ It’s a start, Master Hiro. I hope I have made you proud. _

The Dark Lady smiled lovingly in Naomi’s soul, settling Her wings about Her daughter in a moment of terrible, ruthless compassion.

On legs that trembled and with hands that shook, Naomi retreated to a secluded river within the woods that ended in a cascade off the cliffs. Within the dark wood, Naomi washed the silver bowl and the bone handled knife, stowing both in her bag. Then she stripped the gown off and unwound the bloody bandages till she was naked as the day she was born, but for the gold and onyx talisman that hung between her breasts.

“Lady of Blessed Night, I am unclean, I am weak, I am unworthy. Let this river wash away the pain, the blood, and the evil memories of Awa Port. Wash them into the sea, never to return,” she chanted as she rubbed dirt into her skin, onto her face, into her hair. Every bit of pale, splotchy skin was covered in the mud of the riverbank until she was nothing more than a pair of sapphire eyes in the darkness.

Feeling dirty, inside and out, Naomi stepped into the cold water of the rushing river and closed her eyes before fully submerging.

Within the water, Naomi held onto a river stone to anchor her as the water swept by her, making her feel as an arrow in flight. The water carried away the dried blood, both hers and not, washed away the dirt and pain, leaving only the peace of flight within Naomi. Too soon she had to come up for air.

She submerged three more times before she felt sufficiently clean, both within and without, to emerge and don the cloak rolled tightly at the bottom of her bag.

It didn’t take her long to drag the chains back to the jailhouse and steal, still naked beneath the cloak, back to her hotel room.

_ I am a killer. I was a killer, I still am a killer and I always will be a killer. There is nothing anyone can do to take that away from me. _

Feeling centered in herself, Naomi smeared senjusou paste on her cuts and bruises before binding them with clean linen and donning her own clothes. The grey silken blouse, the strong weave pants, the boots, the coat, all the pieces and parts that made up Naomi as herself.

The trauma is still there, she knew, but the debts had been repaid. All that was given has been taken back, she told herself, braiding her drying hair before going to lay down for a well deserved rest.

Naomi smiled into the predawn darkness, feeling peace pervade her body for a long moment. She was free. She knew who she was. And tomorrow…

Tomorrow she would get on with the business of living.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

It seemed like the whole town had turned out to say farewell to their unlikely heroes. There were tears and laughter and hope abound when Naomi appeared, hooded and withdrawn. Hovering at the back of the crowd, she watched the final exchanges feeling isolated and uncomfortable.

Jae-ha was nowhere to be seen and Naomi felt a pang of regret that the annoying, compassionate old man wouldn’t be continuing on with them.

_ Mayhap that’s for the best _, she thought as she remembered the night on the beach where she had killed a piece of her nightmares and he had held her in gentle understanding.

She had no idea what she would say to him after that. She had no idea what she was going to say to any of them- how to bridge the chasm she had invited into their strange family?

There was Yona, sweet Yona, weeping into Captain Gi-gan’s arms like a child. The smile that lit the old woman’s face reminded Naomi of her own mother- with the love and sadness that all mother’s shared for their children.

By chance, someone glanced back and caught sight of the cloaked figure who’s red braid hung from the deep hood and shone in the morning sun.

They made to call out to her, to the others in the crowd, but like a ghost, she seemed to vanish into thin air, ducking behind a building like a wanted woman where she struggled to take a full breath.

No, she couldn’t do it. There would be no farewells for her. No gentle leave taking.

She would vanish from the town like she had never been there.

_ Only a ghost now _, she thought bitterly, allowing herself just a moment to hate the poor, provincial seaport that was now home to so many new blood stained memories.

“Yami.” A soft voice called just around the corner from her. The voice was weary and solemn, a familiar smoker’s croak in it.

The Captain rounded the corner, pipe in hand, to find the red haired assassin leaning against the sturdy wall looking like a drowning woman gazing at the sky.

The old woman could scarcely believe how quickly Yami had healed, even with the senjusou aiding her recovery. Truly, it was as Hak had said. She was God-Touched.

Gi-gan felt that it would be a blessing and a curse to have such divine eyes upon one at all times- driving a person to such extreme acts. Such gifts that were bestowed on Yami’s young shoulders came with a terrible price, it seemed.

“Captain,” Naomi acknowledged, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. “I’ll not darken the doorsteps here any longer. It’s time for me to go.”

Taking a deep inhale on her pipe and exhaling, Gi-gian searched for the words to give to the bravest, most resilient young woman she had ever met in her long life. To the Sunset Queen of legend.

It was a young legend to be sure, but a legend nonetheless and it would grow with time until no one remembered that there really _ had _ been two girls and their friends who had brought down a corrupt and evil man to save a little backwoods port in desperate need.. The eldest, with one heartbreaking sacrifice, had saved the wives and daughters and sisters of Awa Port- and no one would remember her name.

Instead of words, Gi-gan simply sat with her back against the domicile and proffered her pipe to the broken girl. It wasn’t exactly a lifeline at sea, but Naomi slid down next to the old captain and took the pipe with aching fingers like it was one.

They smoked in companionable silence, each feeling as if they’d aged a hundred years in the past week.

The Captain didn’t ask about the missing prisoners. Quite frankly, with the little she knew of the mysterious Yami, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what had happened to them. However it was done, Gi-gan was sure that the men had paid for their transgression in full.

“My thanks, Captain,” Naomi murmured, smoking curling in thin wisps from her full, beautifully made lips. Lips that had been split and broken by cruel men’s hands, now merely scabbed over and healing.

The Captain took her pipe from Naomi and refilled it, tapping the ash to the side.

“I know you didn’t do it for us.” She breathed, not looking at Naomi’s drawn face and sunken eyes. “But thank you anyways for what you did. I only hope that you come to find that maybe it was worth it.”

She lit the pipe and handed it back. Naomi took a long draw off it and held it.

Her Master had never liked her smoking. She found the feeling rather pleasant and the smell reminded her of fond memories in Belarusia. It made her dizzy and peaceful so she was able to scrounge up a small smile for the woman who had fought Kum-ji longer than any other person in Awa.

“I already know it was worth it, Captain. I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t already known that. I knew the risk,” Her weak smile slipped away. “Better than any of them. I did it anyway.”

“Yes, you did,” Gi-gan said with the saddest smile.

Naomi looked back to the strip of blue sky she could see between the houses which, Gi-gan quietly commented to herself, made Naomi look so very young. The Captain didn’t know what the assassin’s startling eyes saw up there, but whatever it was it gave the girl a measure of peace.

Naomi sighed and the corner of her lips tugged up not quite in a smile, but something like one, as she watched the swirl of smoke rise above them. Gi-gan couldn’t see it, but Naomi fancied herself truly mad as she watched the smoke turn to dragons, grey and sinuous as they danced into the blue oblivion.

“You’ve got a long ways to go, don’t you child,” the old woman pondered, exhaling a long stream of smoke. Naomi took the pipe when it was handed to her thinking about how far she had already come. 

Naomi blew more dragons into the air, “Yes, I suppose I do. Farther than I had thought.”

“Is it worth it?”

Naomi gave a pale imitation of her wicked grin and sucked in another deep pull of smoke. “What do you think, grandmother?”

Gi-gan laughed harshly and took the pipe back.

“I think it is a very good thing you have such good friends to help you to make it worth it.” She chuckled kindly, laying her hand on the back of Naomi’s hood for a moment. Only a moment. The Captain didn’t want to break the peacefulness of this last farewell.

Naomi went still for a moment, wondering at the feeling of the hand resting on her head, fleeting as it was. It was nice. So nice.

_ This is probably the last time I’m ever going to see her _, Naomi thought to herself, feeling sad. She found a loving fondness grown root inside her for this woman, who had been their Navigator’s Star in the fight against men who had let greed lead them to disaster, never swaying from her course toward freedom.

Captain Gi-gan, the true hero of Awa.

The only one who could face saying farewell to Kum-ji’s final victim.

Naomi lowered her hood, revealing the healing bruises that lightly painted their way down her jaw, disappearing beneath the high collar of her daring coat. Soon the blatant abuse would fade from her skin, if not her mind. Her life would go on in spite of it all and she’d let nothing stop her from going forward. Not pain, not despair- and not fear.

Naomi toyed with the end of her fiery braid, contemplating, before carefully laying her head on the old woman’s sturdy shoulder. Gi-gan, smiling and without missing a beat, gently raised her arm and draped it over Naomi. The two women from two different eras, both merely happy that everyone was safe and Yang Kum-ji was dead, smoked and relaxed watching the shadow of the roof creep farther and farther back as the sun rose.

It was good. Naomi had never been one for goodbyes, but this seemed like a nice way to go.

Once the sun was near overhead and the pipe had long gone dark, Naomi lifted herself up and popped her neck, rubbing it firmly. “It’s time for me to go, Captain. I don’t want them getting too far away from me.”

Gi-gan nodded and carefully got to her feet, aching more than usual. It had been a long fight.

Naomi gathered the pipe and cleaned it efficiently before offering it back to the old woman. Gi-gan merely stared at it for a moment before pushing it back into Naomi’s hands, “Keep it, kid.”

Naomi’s eyebrow rose in a heartbreakingly familiar gesture.

“I need to stop smoking anyways. Take it with you. This is the last of it,” Captain Gi-gan remarked as she handed Naomi a pouch full of the fragrant herb that created the peace and comfort that eased her pain enough to say goodbye. She held the pipe and bag to her chest, forgiving the ache in her chest for hurting her so.

This was sadness, but it was also hope.

“Thank you, Captain Gi-gan. I will cherish it,” Naomi said bowing formally to her once, but no longer Captain.

“Ah Naomi,” Gi-gan said, lifting the girl up to touch her cheek, willing herself not to weep. “You’re a good girl. Strange and willful and reckless, but a good girl.”

Naomi realized that she had never told this woman her name, Yona must have let it slip at some point, but somehow it sounded so natural coming from her mouth. And it still held that same sadness and love that endures in all mothers, when she looked at fierce little Naomi as when she looked at Yona.

Naomi rubbed at her eyes trying to wipe the sting from them and sniffed to clear her nose. “I’m not all that good though, Captain, but I promise you that I am trying my best.”

Gi-gan didn’t try to argue. She took her last chance to enfold Naomi in a fierce hug.

“I will make sure you are remembered. Not as a victim, but as the brave, beautiful, wild woman who grabbed her courage in both hands and took the fight to the enemy. When they tell about the Sunset Queen, I will remind the people that she had a name and a face and a choice and that this girl chose _ us _ in the end.” She uttered with all the sincerity and pride in her old bones.

She pulled back with her hands resting on Naomi’s strong shoulders, “And if you are ever in need of a ship, send me word. I’ll sail into Hell and back if that’s what you need. Wherever you need to go, I’ll take you.”

Gi-gan could clearly see the tear marks on Naomi’s bruised cheeks, but left them unremarked as she felt a single tear roll down her own.

Both women wiped away the signs of their allowed moment of weakness and Naomi smiled again, this one unfettered and surprisingly sweet.

“Thank you, Grandmother. I’ll remember it, I promise. What’s all this strangeness about the Sunset Queen? It sounds like a myth or some other tale.” It was funny to feel as though someone had put something back into place that she didn’t know was gone. Naomi felt as though she were untethered from herself.

_ You will always find love on your journey _ , Ik-soo had told her. _ There are many kinds of love in the world and I am blessed to know many _.

“Your friends should have the pleasure of telling you the story. It’s one for the ages, granddaughter. You’ve become a legend overnight. Enjoy it,” The Captain croaked, brushing her skirts off and smiling. She hoped Naomi would heal and fight and sing and smile again. That she would go ahead and fall in love with the masked man with his strange squirrel and be happy.

And that hopefully, it would all be enough to lighten the burdens she carried.

“Sunset Queen, hm? Well, then that makes you the Sky Empress, patron of lost causes and reckless women.” Naomi said, almost, but not quite teasingly.

Gi-gan laughed at this and with a soft chuckle in her voice whispered, “All right, child, that’ll do.” Her voice strengthened as she gave her last command as Naomi’s Captain.

“Go forth then and find adventure. Take care of your family and let them take care of you. You’ll need each other on the road. It’s a long one, but I don’t think it will be a lonely one.”

Naomi, overwhelmed with emotions, stuttered out gratitude and bowed again. She took these words to heart, thinking that this woman really was a gift from the Gods themselves.

The Captain raised the young assassin back up one more time, pressing firm, dry lips to her forehead before glancing at the sky and shooing her away. It was time for Yami to go and leave Awa behind her.

Onto the next adventure.

“Good luck and good journey!” Gi-gan called to Naomi as the young woman raised her hood once more. Without saying anything she turned back, hands on her hood- vibrant, broken, and beautiful- and gave one last sweet smile before she ducked around the house and headed for the forest.

“Thank you.” She whispered as she crossed the city boundary and walked out of Awa toward her future.

* * *

They waited, just like they had promised.

In the woods, just beyond the hills that hemmed Awa into the coast, Naomi wandered quietly into the midst of her strange, collected family as they considered the fawn laying at their feet, talking amongst themselves.

Hak was the first to see her, his face going still as he saw her standing in her light of the sun, shrouded in her too large cloak- only her pale, cruelty painted face and the long ruby braid that brushed her ribs were visible from the shadow of her hood. He stared for a second with his heart in his throat, and he watched Naomi half smile and cock her head sideways, an apology written in her eyes.

Jae-ha finished his last words, musing on the fact that given his freedom the Green Dragon would soar into the clouds never to return, giving the reason why the Green Dragon was always chained by his village from birth. _ He’s just another dragon in a long lineage of dragons stretching back to King Hiryuu and his companions _, Naomi thought as he turned and saw her standing there, just within earshot. He went silent at the sight of her.

_ So is he _, she thought looking at Ki-ja who saw her next.

_ And so is he _. Glancing at Shin-Ah, Naomi couldn’t help but shiver at the tale she was caught up in. She couldn’t quite figure out why.

Naomi could feel the masked man’s burning gold eyes upon her skin and the heat of his regard in her bones.

Then slowly Yona and Yoon turned to see why everyone had stopped talking. Their eyes fell on her and were filled with a yearning tempered by guilt and consideration. Naomi, in turn, felt the spark- the inexorable bond between the Princess and the Assassin like a golden cord snapped taunt. The pull was so strong, Naomi felt the air had been pressed from her aching lungs. 

Everyone stood stock still, waiting for Naomi to make the first move. She was wan and pale, but her unearthly beauty only seemed to sparkle brighter- reflecting off the shattered, healing splinters in her heart and soul, written in more injuries than the eye could see. Blue eyes seemed darker in the hollows of her skull, a little bit of chaos cut through her wavering control to reveal their wild intensity. Collectively, their subconsciousness whispered, ‘Something is _ different _ about her.’ They hadn’t seen her in so long- and it was hard to know what she would be returning to their quest.

“Heyya, everyone... I’m sorry I was gone for so long,” she said quietly, taking a few careful steps closer to the group, wishing they would stop staring at her like they couldn’t believe she was there. But she did her best to understand what they had been through on the other side of the whole situation. They had fought a pitched sea battle against mercenaries and Kum-ji’s bloodthirsty bastards. They had rescued the women, defeated the greedy lord’s forces and won the day- some more than others knowing the price of it. They had spent the past few days giving her the space she needed to heal.

They didn’t need to know that part of the healing she needed space for had her waist deep in murder. No need to scare them with the bloodier of Belarusian execution rituals. Maybe she would tell Hak. Or Jae-ha. They were curious enough, worldly enough, and vicious enough to be pleased with what she had done.

“Too long,” Yona mumbled, hiding her eyes with her sleeve and wiping at them fiercely. Naomi raised her eyebrow and Kija choked, unable to contain the sound of his relief and sorrow. “You were gone too long!” She cried, running forward to throw herself into Naomi’s arms.

Yoon wailed a heartbeat after her cry and did the same.

It hurt, Gods it hurt, but Naomi could no more turn away from them than cut off her own arms. Her joints protested and her bruises pulsed, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care because Yona and Yoon buried their faces in her shoulders and wept long held apologies into her cloak. She felt her broken body could barely contain the love she bore for them.

Both felt so fragile in her arms, so young and so innocent.

_ Yes, the sacrifice was worth it. Every bit of it, because these two are okay. _

Naomi didn’t see, as wrapped up in the younger two of the group’s distress as she was, the way that Shin-Ah’s hands began to tremble with the force of his emotions. He struggled to breathe.

A heavy hand dropped on his shoulder, a looming solid presence at his side.

“Reign it in, old son. Take things nice and easy,” Hak rumbled quietly. The large man could see the extreme effort Shin-Ah was making to keep himself under control now that Naomi had returned to her family. The masked man had kept his tension and worry well hidden during the celebrations, but as Naomi got better and had refused to see anyone, Shin-Ah’s control had begun to erode away.

Hak looked at his own hand that hung by his side. He watched it tremor and twitch before an exertion of will forced it still.

It seemed Shin-Ah wasn’t the only man in the group who was feeling shaky when it came to the red haired assassin.

As careful as can be, the men drifted closer to the trio. Naomi watched them, almost smiling at their caution, but feeling the tension rising in her body she knew they were being wise.

She loved them all, she knew she did- but that didn’t stop the fear and bloodlust from filling her as the male bodies came closer to her own. Closer to her precious Princess.

_ Breathe. _

_ Please don’t hurt anyone. _

_ Breathe. _

_ No one is going to hurt you. _

_ Breathe. _

_ They’re your family. _

_ Breathe. _

All four men froze when they saw Naomi’s breathing speed up, listening to the air whistling in and out of her flared nostrils. She stared at them until she began to tremble, torn between fleeing and attacking. Yona and Yoon looked worried as they felt the rising tension and her arms tighten around them.

When her eyes glazed over, Hak took three steps backward and the other men followed suit. 

The movement broke the spell- Naomi flinched and released her young adopted siblings. When they stepped away from her a little too fast, she flinched again and wrapped her arms around herself, as if she could physically hold herself together if she tried hard enough.

_ She seems so small and lonely like that… _ Hak thought, with no little agony blooming in him when he considered how much she had to recover from, how long and dark the road ahead of her stretched. He didn’t let it show on his face.

The first word she managed was uttered from between clenched teeth and sounded like she was in pain. After a moment of internal struggle and convincing her jaw to relax, Naomi was able to communicate what she needed in order to function, “One… one at a time…”

Three of the men looked to each other, worry and confusion splashed across their faces. They looked to Hak to guide them through Naomi’s fear, but he kept his eyes on Naomi. He’d seen broken women aplenty in his time as a General, but he hadn’t known any of them well enough to know how to help his sister. Yona and Yoon gripped each other tightly, but wisely didn’t say anything. This was a test for each person in their small strange family.

They could only watch with sad eyes and tear stained cheeks as Naomi struggled to be alright.

Only Jae-ha watched her with no fear on his face, only deep abiding compassion.

He could see it in the other men’s eyes; a frustrated, lung-crushing despair. Desperately wanting to protect her, to make her feel safe, but they were the trigger to her fear. How to help her, without hurting her- that was what they now looked to Jae-ha to figure out.

So he nodded. “One at a time. We can do one at a time.” The Green Dragon did some mental acrobatics and then looked to his brother who was unable to hide his emotions, unable to keep the fierce protective yearning from his face. “Kija, you’re up first.”

Kija looked at Jae-ha, afraid to be the one to set Naomi off.

_ Keep it slow _, his face said and Kija nodded slightly, hoping he understood.

Naomi looked from Jae-ha to Kija, and with palpable willpower, forced her body to cease its trembling. She couldn’t get her jaw to unclench, nor her tense muscles to relax, but the shaking stopped.

She met Kija’s beautiful turquoise eyes, eyes that glimmered with fear and hope, and took a deep, careful breath. Then she bobbed her head in ascent, giving him permission to come closer.

Approaching her, Kija felt his heart pounding in his chest. He had to be careful, so very careful. Memories of teasing her, wrestling with her, curling up with his head in her lap as she sang Belarusian lullabies so beautifully that they made his heart ache, crowded his mind and he wondered if she would ever get back to that happy, free woman she was before.

He prayed with all his heart she would.

He moved slowly, coming to stop three paces from her, giving her the power to close the gap when she felt ready.

She saw it and loved him for it. A brave old-fashioned knight in white; so loyal, so kind.

Each step was a whispered prayer when Naomi unlocked her arms from around herself and carefully wrapped them around his neck in a delicate embrace, her chin on his shoulder and their cheeks barely brushing, keeping an inch of space between his body and hers.

For Kija, it was enough. As if handling a baby bird, he hugged her back, burying his face in her cloaked shoulder and trying to keep from weeping.

She was back, she was back and safe, and he would protect her better in the future. I will, he swore silently. He swore he would never let her get hurt like that again, thinking of the moment he first glimpsed her- when they hauled her nearly dead from the water and laid her on the deck. He hadn’t told anyone that he had run to the side of the ship and thrown up when he saw what those awful men had done to her body.

Never again, he swore as two burning hot tears fell from his clenched eyes and disappeared into her cloak.

“I’m so glad you’re back.” He whispered, his voice cracking with sincerity.

She didn’t respond, but her arms tightened around his neck and she ran one slightly trembling hand over the back of his head, relearning the feel of his silky soft hair beneath her fingers.

When more than her hand trembled, Kija slowly released her and stepped back, wiping his eyes furiously with his sleeve.

It made Naomi’s smile quaver with tears.

Jae-ha met Hak’s eyes and dipped his chin subtly, indicating he was up next in the line up.

The big man laid his glaive down in the grass and took a few agonizingly slow steps toward his shaking sister. He felt he had to be so much more careful since he was the largest of the men and he didn’t want her to be afraid of him. He hated that she was afraid and there was nothing he could do about it.

Towering over her, he watched her shakes grow more violent, her breaths turning to gasps as he approached.

He couldn’t stand it.

So he knelt in the grass, laying his open palms facing upwards on his knees, raising his chin to look at her and expose his throat. A pose of utter vulnerability and trust. He laid himself bare in front of her, showing his aching love for his strong, adopted sister in the only way he knew.

Yona, watching Hak on his knees before her, was overwhelmed by the emotions that washed over her like a deep wave. Especially as she watched Naomi comprehend what the pose meant and how the assassin’s face softened, but her brilliant eyes darkened with agony to see him prostrated so.

Neither Yoon or Yona could imagine how hard it was for Naomi to step toward Hak, to accept his trust. To lean over and put her arms around him, even as her body screamed at her to _ run _.

Hak kept his hands on his knees, barely breathing as Naomi made the effort to take him back into her trust, as far as she could give it.

“Thank you for keeping them safe, aniki.” She whispered in his ear, the words meant only for him. They squeezed his heart painfully, feeling unworthy of her gratitude._ I didn’t keep you safe... _

As if she heard the thought, Naomi stepped back to her original place. And smiled that sad, sad smile. “I knew you would do your duty and meet me on the other side. I trusted you and you did not let me down.”

It was enough. Hak bowed his head to hide his tears until he brought himself back under control and backed away slowly. Yona watched transfixed by the power of trauma and its effects on people she loved so very dearly. She’d never known this agony before- and she never wanted to again. She never wanted anyone to feel how she felt watching her beloved assassin fight her demons. How well Yona knew Naomi’s new demons.

Naomi’s eyes went to Shin-Ah, wondering what he was hiding behind the blankness of the mask. But Shin-Ah did not step forward. He was rooted to where he stood, only the rise and fall of his chest to reveal that he was still alive.

So Jae-ha shifted, causing Naomi’s eyes to flash to him.

He offered her a gentle smile that vanished when he saw her shudder. But Naomi still nodded to him so he would know it was his turn.

The Green Dragon tried to swallow the rock in his throat as he slowly swaggered up to the trembling woman with glittering sapphire eyes.

He had held her in private as she wept out the terror and pain that had built inside her, released only by Kum-ji’s final execution, but he couldn’t bring himself to put his arms around this fragile woman no matter how much he wanted to.

He’d seen victims before- had watched over them as they tried to rebuild their lives. He knew how hard it had to be for her to stand among them and give this little bit of herself so that they could be reassured. Another sacrifice she made for them without asking for anything in return, but understanding.

_ How can you be so strong? _ He wanted to ask.

But as he met her eyes, he knew why. Those eyes told him of horrors that he couldn’t begin to imagine. Her days in Awa… were merely revisiting a living nightmare she’s known for years.

_ I know what it is to be a slave… _

Jae-ha’s heart had nearly burst when he had heard those words the first time. 

_ You don’t know what these men are capable of! _

But she knew. She knew exactly what awaited her in the arms of those bastards and she went anyways. For the people of Awa, for her friends, for her Princess, the Angel of Death surrender herself to the chains of slavery again.To protect them. To save them.

Jae-ha carefully took one of her pale, bloodless hands in his, trying to pass some of his warmth, his strength, to her through the simple contact. Her fingernails were still split, but they were healing. The bruises that adorned those hands had faded to pallid yellow outlines. Beneath the cuffs of her jacket, he knew there were bracelets of scabbed wounds and barely healed scars around her wrists.

He bowed gracefully over the limp hand and gently brushed his lips over her split knuckles.

“My brave lady,” he murmured, “your courage astounds me and I am so very glad you came back in one piece.” Naomi huffed a broken little laugh, “Jae-ha.”

Amusement and heartache. That was what the Green Dragon heard when she said his name. With the fingers of her free hand, she reached out and brushed his cheek, her smile bittersweet and her voice fond.

“Thank you. I’m very glad you chose to come with us. I would have missed you, old man.” Jae-ha grinned at her, but somehow that smile sent a pulse of alarm through the young woman that made him let go of the hand he held so gently.

She wrapped her arms back around herself and closed her eyes, beginning to tremble once again and Jae-ha stepped back carefully. She had given him what she could.

That left Shin-Ah.

Shin-Ah who still stood motionless, barely breathing.

The whole group felt the tension rise and held their breath, waiting.

Naomi’s eyes looked like dark pools in her pale face as she opened them to look at the Blue Dragon. Her breath caught in her throat at the hard line of his mouth and the empty eyes of his mask. She forced her arms from around her torso and began to reach out to the silent man she had come to care for so very deeply. She could see the wounds her actions had inflicted on him and an awful self-loathing rose up in a roiling black mass inside her. Her hand halted mid movement, flinching back even as it strained forward.

“Shin-Ah…” She whispered, but the tremble of her lips made it impossible to continue. She watched his hands turn to clenched, shaking fists.

She gasped and pulled her hand back to grab at her amulet, tucked in her blouse. Part of the scab bisecting her bottom lip split and a tiny trickle of blood ran down her chin.

It all hurt too much.

“_ I’m sorry. So, so sorry. _” The raw, naked agony in her voice made everyone present flinch. Air hissed between Shin-Ah’s clenched teeth and that little noise had Naomi stumbling away.

“I-I’ve got to go. Now. I have to go now,” She rushed blindly away from her family, those she loved most dearly, toward the safety of the woods.

“Naomi!” “Naomi-nee!” “Onee-chan!”

They called after her, desperate and frightened, but she had to get away before she broke apart. She called a vague reply about coming back soon, but she didn’t really know what she said to them. Whatever she had to to get away.

They let her go.

Her body ached horribly, everywhere, but the pain between her legs was what drove her to her knees next to a deadfall, deep inside the forest. Hanging over the fallen tree, Naomi vomited the broth and water she had consumed before leaving Awa onto the forest floor .

_ Dear, sweet Gods, it hurts. It hurts too much. I hate this, I hate this so much. I don’t know if I can do this. I’m scared. I’m tired. I’m sick. I want to go home. _

Naomi curled into herself, feeling like broken glass had filled her chest, before she broke down- the bittersweet memories of her departure near forgotten in the haze of physical and emotional pain. Sick and aching, Naomi laid down on the forest floor and wept into her too big cloak; a lonely battered exile of her own accord in a darkening wood far from home.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

_ Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. _

The words her Master had used so many years ago circled Naomi’s mind as she sat high in the trees above the campsite. She recalled how gently he had treated her when she had first joined him, after her heartstopping escape from the High House of Arda. He hadn’t been warm and cajoling like the others were trying to be. He let her keep her distance, let her do what she needed to heal herself from the terrible wounds that had been inflicted on her body and her soul- and gave her the tools and skills to regain her belief in her own power.

What did she need now?

She had been given time and space in Awa without having to ask for it and she appreciated all of it. Her family had understood her when she had needed to control her greeting back into the family and they had given it to her.

What did she need now?

Naomi didn’t know. The markers on the road to recovery were worn down after years of not travelling that road. She didn’t know how to get back to where she was before. She could only stumble forward

In the past, she had steeped herself in the Bloody Lover, centering herself in murderer and building her life off of that. And it had worked.

But she wasn’t just the Bloody Lover anymore. She hadn’t been just that since the moment she had first laid down with King Soo-won, since she had first joined Hak and Yona on their quest for the Dragons.

The Old Naomi and the New had been slowly merging, becoming one woman committed to her chosen family and the Princess she had made the center of her world.

But Yona was still young, still wounded by the events that had torn Naomi apart. She couldn’t place the burden onto her Princess of holding her big sister above the waters trying to drown her.

Memories of black and bloody water closing over her head rushed through the woman, and in the few gasping moments it took to beat them back, she found herself counting the sleeping breaths of the people below her to calm herself.

The same feeling engulfed Naomi as when she had first heard the celebrations going on outside her window. Yearning to be a part of it and yet, being unable to because of her own choices. She wished that she could have said yes when Yona had asked her to sing them to sleep as she had done before.

But she had sharp edges now and those edges cut deep.

Shin-Ah still hadn’t spoken a word to her.

Kija had trouble meeting her eyes.

Yoon and Yona couldn’t keep the guilt off their faces whenever they saw her.

Hak was frightened for her and of her, wondering what he could do to turn back time.

Jae-ha knew she was avoiding him, avoiding his compassion, and the secrets he kept for her.

It was like she was a stranger again.

“Scary Miss?”

And her ability to deal with change and the unexpected had shifted as well. The afternoon had shown her that.

A dagger was in her hand before she had made the decision to pull one out, its fine edges gleaming in the spotty moonlight. When she looked down from her branch, seeing the shaggy golden hair and the dirty youthful face looking up at her, Naomi sighed and stowed the dagger back in its sheath. She’d already threatened him earlier and since he was staying, she needed to stop almost killing him.

“Hello, Zeno,” she murmured, but made no move to climb down.

Such strangeness abounded in her misfit family. She had been prepared for Jae-ha and the personality he brought into the mix. She hadn’t been prepared for Zeno and his oddness. She hadn’t been prepared for him at all.

The tree shivered slightly as Ouryuu climbed up to join her.

It took her a moment to decide whether she was alright with this interruption of her solitude.

By the time he reached the precarious branches that held her, Naomi had cleared away her immediate response and was prepared to welcome his strange presence. He was new and hadn’t known her before the trauma she endured in Awa. In many ways, he was the easiest person in her group to be around.

“Zeno is impressed you climbed so high,” he gasped, out of breath as he chose a branch across from her to settle on. She gave him a small smile and a vague explanation about having a family orchard to explain her climbing habits. She didn’t say that as an assassin she had been trained relentlessly on being able to get anywhere she needed to, one way or another.

That thought touched on memories so sensitive, Naomi’s whole body twitched in response. With soul wounds so open and raw, it seemed like every thought only brought a fresh wave of choking anxiety and crippling depression. Not thinking seemed to be the only answer, something she had spent the past few hours failing at. 

Zeno said nothing, but watched her with wise, calm eyes and an open expression. He looked so very young and yet- so very, very old. She wondered what the others thought of their new companion.

“Apologies,” she whispered, clutching her cloak around her shoulders as if her memories were only a cold wind through the warm, still evening. He smiled kindly. “You have nothing to apologize for, even if your accent makes the word sound so sweet. We’re just two friends enjoying an evening together. It’s a new adventure for Zeno to be up so high and be so comfortable talking.”

Naomi tried to smile, but it felt stiff and false on her scab split lips.

Zeno looked up at the sky through the branches and for a moment looked devastatingly sad. “You must have been hurt very badly, Miss.” He murmured softly.

It took all of Naomi’s self control not to flinch at those gentle words.

“What makes you think that, Ouryuu?” Naomi whispered back, her voice neither gentle nor sharp. She knew he would either comment upon the still present wounds on her face and hands or how she had held a blade to his throat during dinner. It had been an awkward moment for all present. Either or, she swallowed some prepared scathing remarks.

Zeno tugged some leaves from the branch in front of him and began to tear them into delicate strips. “Zeno has not been with you all very long. All Zeno has are stories and whispers from long years of travel. Stories from your companions and the stories of strangers paint a fascinating picture of Miss Naomi. But that picture never flinched looking into my eyes.” He told her, smiling again as he began to braid those strips together. 

The words were gentle, but Naomi felt them like blows to her floundering soul. She could almost hate her larger then life reputation for the expectations it laid on her burdened shoulders. No one could look at her without mourning what she had been before Kum-ji’s tender embrace cracked the carefully built foundation Naomi had set her life upon.

_ I won. I killed them all. They can never hurt anyone ever again. _

She reminded herself over and over and over again. Remembering those last nights in Awa was the only reason she could lift her head and meet Zeno’s gentle sky blue eyes.

Naomi forced a cruel smile to her lips. “Don’t get used to it. The Bloody Lover doesn’t flinch.”

It felt fake, but she tried, damn did she try.

“What a tale you must have to tell,” Zeno remarked with sparkling eyes, as unafraid as he had been earlier that afternoon when they had first met. When she held a blade to his throat and offered to open it if he didn’t tell her who he was and why he was there.

Seeing her like that had made her whole family blanch with fear, but Zeno had merely smiled that innocent’s smile and told her he had followed his nose to the food.

With one hand buried in his wild rich gold hair she had yanked his head back, exposing his fair throat to the skies and the mercies of her wickedly sharp blade... and he smiled, asking if she wanted any.

Then her family had explained the strange boy was in fact the Yellow Dragon, the last dragon they were searching for. Their quest for the Four Dragons of Legend had been completed.

Thousands of years, hundreds of miles, all for an anticlimactic moment in a forest miles from Awa Port and its bloody memories.

Zeno was tearing more leaves, braiding and tying the bits together into something Naomi couldn’t understand yet. She gave a long exhale, trying to pull the calm night like a blanket over her heart wounds. “I suppose I have many tales to tell, Ouryuu. Maybe as many as you,” Naomi replied, shifting carefully on her perch so she could tuck her cloak under her legs.

The scruffy young man grinned. “Zeno looks forward to trading them with you, Miss Naomi. Zeno has a feeling yours are much more interesting than mine.”

A small, dark chuckle escaped Naomi’s lips, “Only if interesting means bloodier, Ouryuu. Where I go, death follows.”

“Death is not all that you are, Naomi.” Zeno whispered back calmly, divinity a quiet hum in his gentle voice. Ik-soo had that same cadence, but in this stranger Naomi refused to hear it. She burrowed into her hood and growled, “You don’t know me, Dragon. You don’t know what cruelty shaped my bones, what poison flows in my veins, or how many skeletons rattle in my mind.”

“But Zeno does know whose love guides your heart.” He replied without pause, before holding up his creation to the wane light.

It was a familiar leafy flower. How he had replicated something he had never seen momentarily stumped her. “Miss Yona has a beautiful bracelet around her wrist. She let me see it when Zeno asked. She told me its story. She told me of her older sister that loves her more than anything. A powerful woman who chose to abandon the kingdom she had built for herself upon a mountain of corpses to follow a young princess who had nothing, but a heartsore Thunderbeast and a desire to be stronger.” Zeno admired his leaf-flower and looked at Naomi as if he was all too familiar with the darkness that slithered beneath her skin. He held his creation lightly in his fingers and blew on it, the cunningly wrought leaf blades flaring out and spinning lazily across the space between them.

It landed on her cloaked lap and she picked it up with the utmost care, not wanting to crush the carefully crafted little thing.

It was barely as long as her pinky finger, but he had captured the full, many petaled blossom and the reminder of her home pierced her with poignancy.

“I believe that woman’s _ heart _ defines her more than whatever skeletons lurk in her past.” There was quiet passion in his soft voice, and the words were like finding unexpected respite in a storm. A kindness she did not expect from this odd, dirty stranger with secrets in his smile.

"You are kind to say so, Zeno.” She murmured back, pushing her hood back until the edge of it rested on the peak on her forehead.

The Yellow Dragon stared at the moon-pale face and glittering cobalt eyes with something like wonder. Even as far and wide as he had traveled, Naomi seemed like a figure out of myth and legend. Such beauty. Such pain. Such fierceness to face the evil of the world without balking.

The heavy red length of her hair spilled out of her hood- the night turned it black, but where it caught the shrouded moonlight, it glowed bloody.

Zeno’s hand caught the medallion hanging from the left side of his headwrap. He ran his thumb over the face of it and smiled again. “Perhaps it is kind. More, it’s a truth that Zeno thinks Miss Naomi needs to be reminded of when the dark closes in. Her family loves her so much, but they are afraid of hurting her again, afraid to remind her of the agonies she went through. They do not see that everything is a reminder. So fresh it all is, she feels she is barely a step away from the abyss she ripped her way out of with bloody teeth and broken fingernails, time and time again.”

Her healing fingernails held the flower up as the clouds moved along, silhouetting it by the waning moon. If it trembled, she blamed the wind and the words this boy spoke with an understanding that his youth belied.

“But every day is another step from that place and the reminders become daggers in her hands against the demons that follow and tell her that all she is, all that she brings, is just death and despair. She has never been ‘just’ anything. She has always been good and bad and everything in between.”

Naomi inhaled a deep shuddering breath and that exhale carried the little dancing flower out of her scarred hand up above the trees. A sudden breeze, maybe a gift from the Lord of the Four Winds, caught it and carried it wibbling and wobbling into the night sky.

The two watched it go and Naomi asked, “How long do you think it will fly?”

Zeno looked back at the broken, holy beauty nestled in the trees with him and grinned. “It will fly as far as you believe it will.” Her gaze never left the dark speck casting through the moonlight when she whispered a quicksilver line of Belarusian, the liquid syllables falling on Zeno’s ears like the strangest music. He asked what it meant, hoping she could find it in her to tell him.

“Belarusian doesn’t always translate well into other languages. If I told you what the literal translation was, it would be little more than gibberish.” Naomi demurred, finally pulling her hood off and pushed the weight of her hair over her shoulders. The wind danced through the trees filling the pregnant silence with the rustling of a million leaves and the quiet cries of the nocturnal animals.

Zeno almost thought she wouldn’t tell him and he accepted it, contenting himself to watch her hair make blackened scarlet ribbons on the breeze.

“Oh wind wandering traveller, long may you dance on the songs of the world and when a home you seek, find it where the hopes of a nation rest buried in the ashes of occupation.” She whispered suddenly, gazing north unerringly. Thousands of miles away lay the mountains and orchards and plains and valleys that she had given her life for- and Naomi wondered how much of it was left. How much the Warlords had claimed for their own, driving her people from their homes, killing them, _ enslaving them _; and she, the flower of her generation, too far and too broken to save any of them.

Zeno was quiet for a few long moments before he spoke to the wind as softly as she.

“And when you land there, may you land safely among the kind and noble-hearted that still bear hope of their nation in their hearts.” He finished, hoping his assumptive words weren’t an insult. But he saw an unbearably sweet smile cross her face and knew that he had said the right thing. It was a tired smile, a gentle smile, but it was a treasure because it wasn’t strained or trembling.

Naomi’s hands went to her aching chest, looking at Zeno as he was and not as he pretended to be. She thanked the Blessed Lady that someone as wise and good as this boy had come to their group to balance this new creature she was emerging into.

“Thank you, Zeno. For your reminders and your kindness, I happily welcome you into my family. If you can have patience with me, I will be a good sister to you,” she promised, praying it would be true. The blue of Zeno’s eyes silvered a bit at the genuine honesty in her voice, but he blinked it away before bowing his head to her.

“It would be an honor, Miss Naomi, for Zeno to be trusted so much. Whatever she needs, Zeno will aid her always. For the hopes of conquered nations and the heart of a young Princess, Zeno will have her back and never flinch,” he promised in return.

Naomi held onto her smile. It had been a while since she had felt so light and warm. He was odd, kind, and funny, but Naomi had always known that there is more to the dragons than meets the eye. Such secrets, enough to match her own.

Her family.

Zeno breathed deep and looked at the moon with a soft, vulnerable look in his eyes.

“The Heavens know how grateful I am… for today,” He said dreamily.

Naomi smiled and looked to the moon as well, still light and happy even with the memories swimming in her veins. The good, the bad, and everything in between.

“Me too.”

* * *

“We’re here!” Yoon called over his shoulders to his gaggle of companions.

Four dragons, a Princess, a General, and an Assassin all came down the ravine towards where Hak, Yona, Yoon, and Naomi had first set forth on their journey for the four dragons.

It had been Yoon who had decided to return, seeking more answers to the Koukan Prophecy from the Priest. It had been three months since they had left, but it had felt like years had passed them by as they crisscrossed the middle kingdom.

Naomi hung back, quietly following the group.

Zeno had kept her company most as they walked back to the familiar Wind Tribe lands. The others had been relieved when she had come out of her tree that first morning looking a little tired, but more peaceful than she’d been in days. She had sat with them. Had breakfast with them. If she didn’t talk as much as she used to, there were enough members of their strange family to fill the silences for her. If her face was haunted and hollow at times, Zeno could manage to cajole the shadows away with his sunny disposition.

That alone won the others’ undying gratitude for the Yellow Dragon’s quirkiness.

He had calmed her when she began to panic upon seeing Ik-soo’s home so wrecked and her friend pale and bleeding on the floor. All she could see was a destroyed restaurant and a dead boy in his mother’s arms.

He made her chuckle as Yoon yelled and cried at his old mentor for starving himself so much he knocked things to the ground in his faint, easing her hands from the hilts she had gripped so tightly.

And they had locked eyes when Zeno had asked the most important question of their journey to their young Princess. It was the first time the others of the group had seen the depths of Ouryuu that Naomi had come to know and appreciate.

Now that the dragons were assembled, what did Yona want to do?

Run away?

Retake her throne?

Or something else entirely?

His switch back to simple innocence left Yoon and Kija confused and frustrated, but Naomi knew a deflection when she saw one.

When the food was made and the men gathered to talk away from the young ones’ ears, Naomi slipped away, silent as mist on morning.

It was strange to be back in a place and be a completely different person than when she left. She sat on the bank of the lazy flowing river where Ik-soo had first told her the story she had woven herself into and where the Lady of Blessed Night had given Her child a warning and a last lifeline amid her stormy life.

In the afternoon light, the spot seemed lively and picturesque with the blue waters and the teeming forests. Naomi enjoyed the peace.

She felt safe in this valley. Hidden in the mountains of the Wind Tribe, she could relax her rigid guard. The Priest’s home was merely a vague mention in an old story and the Koukan nation didn’t yet know how many of their old stories were walking the lands once again.

It was enough for Naomi to spread her cloak out and strip off her armor, her belts, her blades, down to her blouse and pants. A sliver of gold in the dark memories from Awa came as she spread her loose heavy hair out on the ground and soaked in the sunlight, stretching her pale toes out toward the murmuring waters. It was a wonderful unburdening to be so vulnerable and yet feel so safe once again.

The warmth felt delicious on her healing body. All her physical wounds had scarred cleanly and the bruising had begun to disappear entirely, and if there were still scars, and aches in her joints, and headaches, and the hollowness in her lower belly to bear with- she praised the Lady that was all that was left.

Senjouso was still a part of her diet and would be until she was back to pre-Awa physical health. Yoon was fussing the way he knew best. The trauma of Awa showed on everyone who had fought in that last terrible battle.

The sound of small feet picking carefully over the forest floor had the weary woman cracking an eye open and sighing silently. Then she closed that eye and waited to see if Yona felt brave enough to come into the sunlight with her.

Her calm repose hid the knot of anxiety and longing that cramped her stomach.

There was that connection. That golden cord Naomi felt wrapped around her very soul, binding her in love and service to the Princess of Kouka Kingdom. It hummed in her presence, a reminder of promises made and kept- and that they still had so much further to go.

“Naomi-nee?” Yona called, hesitant and uncertain of her welcome. There was so much she was uncertain of now and she only hoped that Naomi would still be happy to talk with her as they had before Awa. That her presence wouldn’t cause the older girl any more pain.

Naomi rolled to her side and looked to where her precious princess stood wavering in the shadows of the forest.

Yona was temporarily mesmerized by the way the sun glinted on her assassin’s hair as she moved. The afternoon sun turned the long bloody waves into strands of sizzling ruby and Yona couldn’t think of any jewel she’d ever seen that could match its fire.

Naomi smiled warmly, “Heyya, little sister. Come enjoy the sun with me.”

Her eyes were tired, but Yona didn’t see the shadows swimming in them like she had before.

The sunlight turned Yona’s short hair into a mane of crimson and as the younger girl sat Naomi couldn’t help but run her fingers delicately over the growing locks. She’d missed the feel of it the past few weeks they’d been traveling. She’d missed a lot of things.

Yona clasped the hand idly stroking her hair between her own, holding it like a frightened bird in her palms. “How are you feeling?” She asked as gently as she could manage.

Naomi's face looked pained for a flash of a second before a wry smile crossed her lips. She brought Yona’s fingers to her cheek, reveling in the feel of those ever strengthening callouses brushing against her own.

“Better. Better every day, my Princess.”

Hearing the warmth in her voice and seeing the love in her sparkling eyes set Yona’s tears free down her pale cheeks. They glittered in the sunlight like ephemeral diamonds.

Naomi sat up, her long silky hair making a halo of ruby waves around her face and torso, and laid her hand against Yona’s soft cheek. Her thumbs brushed away the tears, whispering words of comfort and forgiveness in Belarusian as she rested her forehead against Yona’s.

Seeing her cry was more painful than being stabbed to the assassin, but she knew these tears were important. “Come, little sister, speak the words that are weighing so heavily on your heart. I’ve healed well enough to listen,” she whispered, coaxing out the darkness that Yang Kum-ji had laid across the Princess’ life.

It started haltingly. Like pulling poison from a wound, Yona spilled out all the fear and hatred that she had learned from the Overlord of Awa. All the guilt she had gathered to herself ever since she had watched as Naomi walked through the door into the monster’s arms.

For her.

All for her.

Yona wept.

Tears dripped down Naomi’s face as well, bittersweet and full of regret. For the choices that led to all this heartbreak and for such sacrifices having to be made to make the world a better place.

“Yona, my Princess, my heart… I would do _anything _to keep you safe,” she whispered fiercely, “I would murder the world for you. I would tear down mountains and bring down Empires to save you.”

Yona staggered under the weight of Naomi’s loyalty. Naomi seeing the flush on the younger girl’s face, immediately scooped her up and moved them both into the shade.

Despite everything, Yona still marveled at how strong and graceful her adopted sister was. She settled them beneath the shade of a flat leafed tree, tucking the Princess onto her lap without a hint of strain.

Naomi ran a hand through Yona’s sun warmed hair and pressed a kiss to her sweaty temple. “You cannot take the blame for my choices, Yona. And it may not have seemed like it, but everything that happened was a choice. I could have stayed and fought with the others in the sea battle. I could have remained quiet and hoped that Kum-ji’s desire to sell you would outweigh his suspicions of you,” she murmured softly. It hurt to speak on, but these thoughts had all roamed around inside of both their thoughts for too long. “But what would have happened if I had chosen differently?”

“But if I hadn’t-”

“Hush, lovely, we’ll get to your choices in a moment. Let me tell you what may have happened if I had chosen to give into my fear.”

Naomi leaned her head back against the tree trunk and Yona shifted the bloody red hair off the older girl’s shoulder so she could rest her head and hear the other girl’s heartbeat.

“If I had stayed behind, you may have succeeded regardless, and everyone escapes safely. Or Kum-ji could have discovered you. He could have killed you and none of us would know until it was all over. He could have taken you back to Hiryuu Castle where you would have been put to death or been forced into a sword marriage.”

Yona shuddered at the unspoken alternative to death at Kum-ji’s hands.

If Naomi hadn’t been there, things could have been so much worse.

The older girl was silent for a little while, finding the strength to breathe through the memories.

“Something you didn’t know, or maybe you do, maybe the other women told you… When I first arrived in the compound and I was put with the rest of the captured, there was no hope. I did what I could to convince them that they hadn’t been forgotten and I gave them what comfort I could. I had the loosest of plans on how I was going to save them and I promised every girl in there the same thing I promised you,” she tightened her arms around Yona in another desperate embrace, “I promised them I wouldn’t let anything bad happen. That I would protect them. And I keep my promises.”

Yona sniffled and nodded, “I know, Onee-chan. You always keep your promises.”

_ All except one_, Naomi thought painfully. What would her young King think of her now?

“I was furious at first, when I saw you and Yoon in that dark little room. I was angry, but more than that I was afraid. I feared that I would not be strong enough to protect all of you. I cursed your stubbornness.” The smile on Naomi’s face belied her cool words. Yona sat up and looked at her big sister devastated, but closed her mouth when she saw that smile.

“_ Tch_, little sister. At first yes, I cursed it because I couldn’t believe you hadn’t listened to me. I couldn’t believe that they had let you and Yoon take such a risk when I had explicitly said no. But look at it all as a whole,” Yona couldn’t look away from those burning blue eyes, “and realize that without you and your stubbornness and your desire to save your people, we would not have succeeded at all. I would have doomed us to failure.”

Yona’s breath caught and she rallied herself to argue, but Noami hushed her gently and their foreheads touched once more.

“Hear me, my precious girl. Regardless of whether you were there or not, I would have faced the same choice. Yang Kum-ji came to have one last look at the stock. Without you there, he may have noticed me or he may not have. But had he tried to take one of the innocent women in that room for his own, I still would have taken her place. Because I cannot stand by and let someone else suffer like that. Not when I’ve already suffered like that a thousand times over. I know that I can survive it. I have survived it. Another girl might not have and I cannot have that consequence on my conscience. How could I tell a family that I did not protect their daughter? Or tell a husband that I let his wife fall into that monster’s hands? It would hurt me more than anything those men could have done to me. Because I promised I wouldn’t let anything bad happen, and I don’t make promises that I can’t keep.” She murmured while more tears trickled down her too pale face.

Her dignity, her sanity, her body- she would surrender all to protect just one more woman from the suffering she had endured. For her Princess? She would rather feed herself to the crows than see Yona in the hands of a man like Kum-ji. There is no price too great to pay to prevent that. Naomi knew she would never have survived the guilt and anguish of carrying her young Princess through an ordeal like hers. If Yona had died…

It was too painful to even consider.

Yona wiped away her tears and then considered her sister’s words about the ordeal they had been through as a whole. Yona still wanted so badly to argue, but Naomi’s words were true.

Naomi sniffed hard and gave her Princess a watery smile. “So you see, Princess of Kouka, I kept my promise, and you carried out the plan. Everything that happened did so because those were the choices we needed to make to save a town and kill an evil man. We suffered, but don’t ever forget that we took back _ everything _ they stole and we succeeded despite the odds.”

The twang of a bowstring, the sound of rock crushing flesh, the crashing of an ocean turned bloody beneath a waxing moon.

Debts paid in full so that Naomi could tell Yona and know in her soul that it was worth it all to win the day at the end.

“And you, my brave girl- a heroine worthy of a song,” the older girl whispered into the soft dip of Yona’s temple. Yona smiled at the words and the tone, thinking to herself that Naomi didn’t yet know about Yoon’s tale and hadn’t heard the story in full. She knew it existed, but she hadn’t been ready to hear the small legend the two women and their choices had created.

None of them had been ready for story time in the long, tense weeks that had followed their farewells and Yona had found what patience felt like. She could wait to share.

She nuzzled the place where Naomi’s neck met her shoulder and sighed heavily. “We did a good thing, didn’t we, Onee-chan?”

Naomi relaxed her hold on the other girl and nodded slightly, “That we did, little sister. One less greedy soulless bastard in the world, one free and happy port town, and one legend come to its fruition. Not a bad way to spend two weeks, I suppose.” Yona felt the tension leaving the older girl’s healing body and had to rub her eyes to stop the tears again. She was so very tired of crying.

When Naomi felt her Princess begin to make small absentminded circles with her fingers on the assassin’s collarbone, she quietly began to wait for the rest of the story. The seed of despair was still stuck inside her, something chewing at Yona’s peace of mind.

“There’s something else…”

_ There always is _, Naomi thought with a small, sad smile.

“... After the celebrations… while you were still recovering in the inn…”

Yona struggled to breathe, remembering her encounter those last days in Awa.

“I went walking. Just to get away from all the people so I could think… and I saw _ him _.” The word, so full of emotions, told Naomi everything she needed to know.

“Who?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“... Soo-won. He found me.”

The name was like a bell, a resounded sound of pain and longing that reverberated along that golden cord that bound the two women. 

Naomi took a deep breath, convincing herself to relax, to ease the pain in her chest.

“Tell me,” she murmured, pressing her lips to Yona’s hair.

The story spilled out of Yona, confused and heartbroken, of how Soo-won had found her, spoken to her, and protected her. Of how she could not draw the sword at his waist, even with her hand on the hilt.

Naomi listened to it all, aching with the memories of him and all the knowledge of what he had done and what he had yet to do. A King crowned, on a mission to restore his kingdom. The power he wielded could do so much good… but the price of that power was sitting in her lap, torn and weeping.

So Naomi rocked her Princess, murmuring words of comfort in all the languages she possessed. There would be a reckoning one day, but that day was far off and the pain he had caused was still so close.

_ The game is up _, Naomi thought to herself.

Or is it?

He had made a choice in Awa Port, the way that they had all made choices.

And the Gods must have been laughing, because it only made Naomi love him more.

_ Someday, my sweet young King, we’ll sit down and speak of the story we have written together. Of crowns and kingdoms, evil men and brave women, dragons and assassins. One day, you and I will speak of a Princess with a destiny. I can only hope you have enough alcohol to tell it all... _

Having finally confessed the secrets she’d harbored in her heart, Yona slumped exhausted in her older sister’s lap, counting the beats of Naomi’s heart until calm settled back over her thoughts. Yona felt lighter and clearer than she had since first arriving in Awa. She had completed her first challenge and had summoned the Four Dragons of Legend to her service. She had the Thunder Beast of Kouka, a legend in his own right, as her leal servant. And she had the Bloody Lover, the Master of the Dance of Death, the greatest assassin on the continent sworn to serve her. Yona herself had become stronger than she’d ever been in her life, had become a hero in her own way.

“... I don’t want to go back, Onee-chan…”

Naomi, who had closed her eyes and retreated into deep thought, cracked one of her eyes and looked at the tangle of princess on her lap. “Eh?”

Yona sat up and carefully shifted herself onto the grass to face the other woman. She took in the weariness, the new scars, and the vast weight of knowledge settled on Naomi’s shoulders that she refused to bow under.

The scars were a particularly painful reminder to the Princess that her service did not come without cost. Her eyes were drawn naturally to the dark scar that marked the beginning of their journey together. On her left cheekbone, the horizontal slice was barely as long as Yona’s pinky finger and had healed to a dark silvery color on the older woman’s ivory skin.

Her fingertips were like butterfly kisses as she traced it and murmured, “To the castle… I know I am a Princess, even with my crown stolen, and that I _ should _ want to go reclaim it…”

Naomi smiled slightly, “But you don’t.”

“But I don’t. I don’t even want to think about how difficult and dangerous that path is for all of us… and the result… I don’t want to think about how I would have to choose to deal with him. I can’t think about it. It’s too awful…”

Naomi smiled again and gently bapped her fingers against Yona’s forehead. The younger girl blinked in surprise and Naomi’s smile widened.

“Don’t think about it. You’ve already made your decision on the idea so you now consider the options left to you. You don’t wish to pursue revenge so, my lady love, what do you wish to do?”

Yona was silent for a few long moments before exhaling slowly. She had been thinking furiously since Zeno had given voice to the issue at hand.

“I am the Princess of Kouka Kingdom. The Princess who had never left her castle and who didn’t know her people. I didn’t know how they had suffered under my Father’s reign, I didn’t know what they prayed for in a ruler. I’m the Princess who didn’t know…”

The young royal squared her shoulders.

“But since my throne was stolen and I became an exile in my own lands, I have begun to learn. I have walked among my people. I have seen their suffering and cursed myself for my own uselessness. I’ve been weak for too long and I can no longer accept my weakness when they need me to be strong. I have not yet earned the strength and the right to call myself their Queen. That is what I wish to do. I want to protect my people, like we did in Awa. I want to make my kingdom a better place to live in and I can’t do that from Hiryuu Castle.”

Naomi gazed at her for a long time. What she saw made her smile bitterly sweet. A Princess with the makings of an impressive Queen. A young girl who desired strength above all else. A growing woman whose soul burned with the fires of justice.

The older girl took her little sister’s hands into hers and raised them to her lips. Tears welled in her eyes for another kingdom- a broken kingdom far away, that no one could save. But if this slip of a girl asked it of her, she would do everything in her power to bring the corrupt and evil of the middle kingdom to heel. She would do it with bloody teeth and bloody swords, to whatever end.

“I’m proud to call you my sister and my princess. The people of Kouka deserve a Queen who would fight alongside them. A Queen- one who rules them because her love for them is her power and her strength to come to battle.” Naomi turned their hands out and rubbed her thumbs along soft palms and thickening callouses, “I’m honored to have a place by your side and I cherish my place in your heart, Yona.” She finished, leaning forward to kiss the younger woman on the forehead.

“Where you go, I will follow. To whatever end, my girl.”

Yona pulled her assassin into a fierce hug, as fierce as her love for the woman.

It felt so good, that embrace. Strong enough to pull some of Naomi’s fractured pieces back into place and full of enough promise and joy that both women smiled.

_ To whatever end. Let it be a happy one._

* * *

Long after Yona had wandered away to think more on her decision to surrender her title to a usurper and take up the life of a vigilante, Naomi stayed by the river, soaking in the peace. She enjoyed watching the shadows move as the sun crept towards the horizon. There was nowhere to be in a hurry, nothing pressing to be concerned with. The bloody haired woman was at liberty to do literally nothing, but snack and nap the day away in quiet bliss.

Sometimes she’d try and play the shakuhachi, but her heart was still too troubled for music. Silence suited her well enough. Her thoughts were loud enough to fill it, thinking of those loved and lost and all the promises she had scattered across this middle kingdom. She desperately tried to keep her thoughts from turning north, succeeding only half the time. When a soft rain shower rippled over the valley, she rolled her things into her cloak and stowed it in the treeline. Then closed her eyes and meditated in the drizzle, mesmerized by the impact of thousands of raindrops hitting her all at once. It didn’t last very long, but it was rejuvenating and she thanked the Rain Maiden for the reprieve from her endlessly wondering thoughts.

The rain soft ground made for more comfortable ground to work with when the sun returned and Naomi napped herself dry.

Dusk turned the valley sky dim long before sunset, and Naomi delighted in the smatterings of stars above her that greeted her waking eyes. The waters of the river turned from bright blue to a dark reflective black as they moseyed on their course. 

Nocturnal creatures awoke and filled the evening with their song. Owls and bats flitted through the air, snatching bugs and rodents that rustled in the glades. It filled Naomi with a different kind of peace. Night was falling and her Dark Lady ascended to the Heavens once more.

Naomi prayed. Dredging from her memory, she recited the lengthy prayer chants and story songs that were the backbone of Belarusian worship. It had only been in recent generations that her people had begun documenting the doctrines of their religion. With the arrival of the Warlords, their diseases and rules and armor and cannons and their never ceasing supply of _ soldiers_, the ancient Belarusian oral tradition was in crisis. Too many dead, too much lost. The scholars had been forced to write down what they could and protect what they had. Her generation and the next were on the terrifying brink of losing who they were as a people, their history and culture erased from the world and from their hearts.

But not all of it. The book of poems Yoon carried in his pack was a symbol of hope that not everything would be lost. That enough pieces of their culture were scattered across the nations to save their memory. 

The liquid syllables with its multitude of consonants and smooth vowels, at once guttural and musical. It was strange how easy it was for her tongue, so used to the odd staccato rhythm of the southern nations after years upon years of living among them, to slip back into the speech of her childhood.

Some things exiles never forgot.

The moon was rising and she had run through a good bit of the longer episodic tales when the hairs on her arms stood on end and a chill ran its fingers down her neck. Her peace vanished in an instant.

Someone was watching her.

Her voice didn’t falter, moving from the epic to a haunting death chant. She kept still as her razor sharp senses searched for her intruder. Her ears strained for any noise that would give away their position, but there was nothing. If not for her extra awareness, she wouldn’t have known anyone else was with her in the dark woods.

Keeping the silence, she shifted to her feet, her chant a low hum beneath the music of the night. Still barefoot and unarmored, she palmed a bone handled dagger and slipped into the shadows like a ghost.

Was that the wind or someone’s quiet breathing? A stick snapped to her left and she circled the area, a predator seeking her prey. It could have been an animal, or it could be the lurker. She didn’t know who it was but Naomi didn’t care. Anyone lurking in the dark could be an enemy and evil memories clung too tightly to the assassin for her to not rise to the killing edge.

She was death creeping through the wood, heart beating just slightly too fast and her blade eager for blood.

If she hadn’t been who she was, it may have been a futile effort. But she was an assassin of the highest caliber and a woman blessed by the Gods. She played cat and mouse through the darkness with her unknown enemy, each move heightening her paranoia.

Her teeth were bared as she dashed and slunked from shadow to shadow, sure that she was closing in on her quarry, her quiet chant low and guttural in the dark. She wanted this kill, craved the manic euphoria of it. She wanted it the way a smackweed addict wanted a leaf.

The hunt made her feel alive and she fed the fire in her blood until it burned for murder.

The whole world narrowed to the dance they did through the valley forest, neither taking one misstep, not one mistake.

It was as terrifying as it was thrilling.

But Naomi was leading this dance. Slowly, she spiralled closer and closer to her quarry. 

Close enough to hear their breathing, to feel the way the air shifted around their body as they moved from shadow to shadow, staying a heartbeat ahead of her movements; ahead of her hungry knife.

Naomi’s voice seemed to come from everywhere, echoing through the trees, whispering of death and violence. It brimmed inside her, bright and clear as the sun at noon. Her need to kill- something she knew would give her the heady feeling of control she so desperately desired.

Stepping behind a long needle pine barely the width of her shoulders, Naomi knew that she had caught them.

She steadied herself and listened.

Their breaths were deep and even, not harsh even after the arduous dance they had just performed. It was the mark of a professional and she wondered if one of her own had finally come to try and claim her title.

The thought only fed her more and she felt the precise moment they shifted their weight to move once again. She stepped at the same time they did, swinging around the tree in a final deadly flourish.

Exultation roared in her bones as the keen edge of her blade slid to the smooth column of her intruder’s throat, ready to open it to the skies, ready to finish the hunt. Then she saw.

She gasped and froze mid-motion, perfectly balanced, perfectly poised.

All her fire, all her bloodlust, turned to ashes in an instant as she stared at the moonlit face that gazed back from the other side of her blade.

A heartbreakingly familiar mask.

“_ Shin-Ah? _”


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

Ashes were in her veins and a coldness settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Shin-Ah?” She whispered, not yet lowering her dagger. It was barely a centimeter from the vulnerable skin of his throat, but he hadn’t flinched as its wicked edge flashed toward him. His breathing didn’t change and his mask hid his expression well. She hadn’t even seen him twitch.

“Shin-Ah, what are you doing here?” Naomi asked raggedly, finally convincing her arm to lower itself. Convincing her body that she was no longer in danger.

Her heart held onto the fear though.

They hadn’t spoken in a long while. Not since they had said farewell on the hills above Awa. Neither of them had found the words to bridge the chasm that loomed between them in all their weeks of travel.

It wasn’t like they had avoided one another. But the masked man had returned to his deep held silences and Naomi had been too afraid to try and reach him after that first disastrous attempt when she had returned.

The silence had strained whatever tentative relationship they had built before- and many times even just catching a glimpse of him would make Naomi queasy with fear and yearning.

She missed him.

She missed his questions, his smiles, his gentleness.

She missed his trust.

The trust she had broken. No, she hadn’t lied, but she hadn’t really told him the risks she was taking in selling herself to Awa’s Overlord. She’d put him in a terrible, terrible position and she could only imagine the agony that he had gone through that fateful night on the sea.

But she would not apologize for what she did… and she had no idea what other words he was expecting from her or if there were words that could ease the silence without shattering it.

Naomi didn’t know what he could read on her face in the shadows of the forest, but a quicksilver smile graced his lips for a moment and he held up a large yellow and pink apple for her inspection. It looked delicious, but her mind barely registered how wonderful it looked.

He’d brought her an apple and presented it like an offering.

Hardly daring to breathe, she took it from him, consciously avoiding any accidental touch lest he felt her trembling. “Thank you,” she whispered. Her eyes were fixed on the wooden eyes of the mask, the infuriating piece of painted wood that he used as a wall between them even as he used the apple as a bridge.

Naomi’s heart, still bruised and aching from her long conversation with Yona, contracted painfully as they moved as one back to where she had left her arms and armor. Her fingernails worried at the sweet smelling skin of the apple and she prayed she was strong enough to mend the crack in their relationship. She wished she was confident in her readiness to try.

They were like ghosts amongst the trees, moving as silently as they had during their deadly dance. She had known Shin-Ah was skilled, but she hadn’t understood how truly masterful he was at playing death games until that moment.

She had almost killed him. She had  _ wanted _ to kill him up until the moment she knew him. But he hadn’t flinched.

Longing tugged at her gut and she quashed it with effort. The inches that separated them as they glided across the forest floor seemed to crackle with tension.

She’d missed how well they moved together.

When they arrived back to the night dark river, Naomi first checked to see if any of her possessions had been disturbed. Seeing that they hadn’t, she slid the bone handled dagger back into its place and took a plain knife from its sheath.

She watched Shin-Ah stand in the trampled sweetgrass where she held Yona only hours earlier, a statue carved of moonlight and darkness. He was so beautiful it made her heart hurt… and he still hadn’t spoken a word.

Her hands hovered on her belts, considering whether she wanted to don her armor for this next trial. She hadn’t heard him move, but then he was there, gently putting his hand over hers and shaking his head.

A twisted thought made her throat close up. There they were, his armor and walls up and her vulnerable and fragile. Was she to beg his forgiveness while he watched her grovel behind his mask?

She would beg for nothing and no one.

Maybe he could read her mind? Or her face? But she watched as Shin-Ah slowly and ever so carefully unbuckled his sword and shed his outer coat. He pulled his boots from his feet and unwound the wraps that bound his ankles and forearms, removing the gloves that protected his hands. Beneath his coat he wore linen pants and a long sleeve shirt of the same material, dyed a deep blue.

Shin-Ah had always looked a little wild, but barefoot and loose clad with his mask and the stream of long ivory hair that concealed his natural blue, he looked like a dark barbarian prince or a young God of the forest.

A Dragon struggling to come into his prime.

He took the knife and apple from her shaking hands and moved to the bank of the river, a ribbon of sparkling, rippling darkness. Cattails and bulrushes swayed and dipped to the slight breeze and the movement of the currents as he sat with careless grace onto the damp soil. The crickets and night creatures near went silent as the predator settled amongst them.

When she joined him, there was only the whisper of the waters and the rustle of the trees to fill the deepening silence. It was as heavy and laden as the stone Naomi felt settle in her chest, just beneath her sternum.

No words, but when he shifted slightly to angle himself toward her, Naomi heard well enough. Her chin tilted in reply- they’d never really needed words to understand each other.

_ I missed you. _

_ I missed you too. _

_ Are you ready to talk? _

_ I hope I am. _

He began carefully slicing the apple into uniform wedges, releasing its sweet perfume into the air. Naomi’s mouth watered at the scent. How long had it been since she had a good apple?

He held out a slice with his strong calloused fingers, baring his pale wrists and a sliver of his lean, corded forearms. She hesitated before taking it; her own slim, calloused fingers no longer trembling.

Naomi looked everywhere but at him, stealing only glances as she sank her teeth through the soft, juicy wedge. She recalled a promise made in trust, wondering if she had lost a privilege as well as the trust during their ordeal.

The apple was delicious. Perfectly sweet and fragrant, Naomi savored the taste of it on her tongue before she finally opened her mouth the speak.

“Why are you hiding from me?” She asked quietly, tracing the impassive lines of his mask with her night wide eyes.

He stared back silently, the knife stilling in his hands.

His mouth tightened dangerously and it took everything in her not to flinch at the sight.

After a deep breath, he resumed slicing the apple and almost under his breath he murmured, “Because I am full of shame and despair.”

Naomi choked, her apple slice turning sour in her mouth as the words struck her like a one-two punch.

At his words, the spectre of her darkness spiralled up to claim her. She tasted fear and fury, guilt and the poignant bitterness that rode on the back of her own despair and shame. She recalled every word of her conversation with Yona, where somewhere amid the pain she had found a measure of peace with the choices she had made. Now beneath the cloak of her regrets she wondered how she had ever felt that.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she crushed them with a ruthless abandon. She could not do the same with the rock in her throat. She swallowed several times trying to ease the tightness there, trying to dislodge the taste of ashes and bloody saltwater.

Shin-Ah laid the slices of apple and the knife in his lap and gently took Naomi’s limp, cold hand between his own. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Part of her reveled in the feeling of his touch, the way his callouses scraped across her own. The other wanted to snatch her hand away, to tear away that lifeline.

It undid her enough that two little tears broke her control and slid silently down her hollow cheeks. Shin-Ah sucked in a quiet gasp as they fell and she could see him searching for any words that could help.

“You shouldn’t apologize for my choices, Shin-Ah.” Voice raw and cracking, Naomi roughly rubbed away her traitorous tears. “I chose knowing full well what could happen. I knew the risks better than anyone in our camp and I reckoned the risks were worth it to win.”

The limp hand he held curled into a tight fist and her voice dropped into a hoarse growl,

“I chose and we won and no one has the right to shame me for the consequences of my actions. I did it to protect that which is dearest, not just to us, but to a whole town. I did it for th-them.”

Naomi imagined she could hear the shards of her being scraping over each other in her chest, crunching glass making the world vibrate, slicing her control to ribbons, cutting her composure into tattered bits. She wondered if she put her hands to her chest, would she touch the edges of the gaping hole she felt growing there. Naomi’s face crumpled and she tiptoed the edge of an emotional abyss, but Shin-Ah spoke quietly, but firmly- and she stopped.

“I know. I know how you fought and what you fought for, Naomi. I’m not saying sorry for what happened. I’m saying sorry... because I failed you. I utterly failed you.”

She stared at him, pale and dizzy, wishing to weep at the words and the seething self-loathing she had heard, but not recognized; staunchly unwilling to allow herself any more bouts of weeping. She was already dehydrated and exhausted enough as is. She closed her eyes and saw the darkness of the abyss loom.

Slowly Naomi lifted her graceful hands to the base of her head and slid her fingers into her soft unbound hair. A soothing gesture to herself. Taking several deep breaths, her firm fingers curled into a tight fist and gently pulled on the sensitive follicles. The pain helped to refocus her barraged mind and eased a touch of the aching tension there that crept up her neck from her shoulders. Her whole body ached with the memories, but it would pass in time. She knew it would. It had to. She stepped back from the edge.

Shin-Ah watched the broken beauty exert her infamous steel clad control, tucking the bad things back into the secret dark room in her mind and shutting the door. They could haunt her, but they could not hold her.

“You in no way failed me, Seiryuu. I survived because you did not give up on me. None of you did. I’ve done this dance once with Yona and you will lay your self hatred and self blame on the altar of my truth as she did.” She spoke calmly, but that Belarusian accent- lilting and savage- entranced Shin-Ah enough to muddle the words. His head cocked, unsure in his fears and regrets.

She released her hair and let her hands slide down the back of her neck to her shoulders, to the muscles that seemed to be the crossroads of all the assassin’s problems, a map of her struggling recovery. Rolling her neck with a soft sigh and wincing she chanced a thoughtful look at him from beneath her lashes and knew the next move in the dance.

Naomi moved carefully, but confidently, to lean forward and take his mask from his face. Stunned into stillness, Shin-Ah gazed wide eyed upon her devastating face and she allowed herself the lightest brush of her fingers through his azure bangs that were growing longer, her fingertips grazing his feverish forehead. “Shin-Ah, I need you to listen to me.”

It was hard. It was so hard for Naomi to form the words when faced with the full intensity of those beloved, one-of-a-kind eyes. The slits of his eyes were completely dilated, pools of vulnerable black ringed in shining gold. The power of his gaze slid across her skin, feeling like mist and starlight.

She didn’t stare back into his eyes, letting her gaze wander over his face instead. It had been a while since she had seen the breathtaking whole of it. She could see the wear of the last few weeks in the dark bags beneath his eyes and stress lines between his eyebrows- worrying signs that he had hidden with his mask. He had been suffering in his silence, but he had given her whatever time she needed to heal, never asking if it would ever end.

Naomi felt a rare tenderness as she sat back on her heels and gave the young dragon a sad, sweet smile. “I should have known you could never bear me any ire. I should’ve known you would turn it all on yourself.” An apology sat on the tip of her tongue, but anything of the sort would send him spiralling, trying to convince her that it was absolutely his fault so it couldn’t be hers. So she took a quiet shaky breath in and started.

“Being alive is really hard, you know? Things get dicey and you can’t stop time to consider your actions. You have to  _ decide _ then and there which choice is the right one- which one does everyone survive and get to go on? There’s no time to think about what will happen between then and the point where everyone goes on, it’s just... which path in front of me do I walk to get the outcome I need?”

She sniffled and sighed.

“I knew it would hurt. I knew that if I chose to stand up, there was no going back. But… Shin-Ah you didn’t see that room. Full of women- young,  _ vulnerable _ women who had been protected by their families their whole lives until their Lord and his men stole them. They were afraid and I gave them hope. I told them that we weren’t abandoned or lost, that the people who loved us wouldn’t let them take us without a fight… that I would kill that man before he laid a hand on any of them.”

Shin-Ah slumped and his lip trembled. Naomi could only take his hand and hold it through this truth telling. It felt like breathing daggers, but she forged on.

“When he came, it was only the fact that Yona was there that the plan succeeded at all. The choice was presented: Yona… or me.”

He gasped and squeezed her hand, seeing the awful choice and knowing the consequences of it. Naomi looked miserable and in pain, but her eyes were clear. “I knew I would survive. I was built to survive the worst. And I knew Yona and Yoon would carry out the plan. I knew the pirates, the Dragons, and the Thunder Beast would win. That we would save them all. And I knew that my family would come for me and bring me back safe.” She smiled. “I didn’t know my allies would sink the ship I was on when coming to my rescue, but I am a master of improv and have an excellent lung capacity from yelling at you all.”

Shin-Ah looked shocked, “We did?!”

She gave him a light shove. “Yes, yes you did! And I am very cross with you all because of it, thank you for reminding me.” Naomi replied in mock anger, crossing her arms. The young dragon chuckled and reached for her hand again, which she gave easily.

“I am very sorry we sunk the ship you were on while we were battling an army of vicious soldiers and mercenaries.” He was sincere and wore a soft amused smile. She returned it and cocked her head, stretching her right shoulder. “It’s alright. I was found regardless and you all brought me back safe and sound.”

“Mostly.” He murdered quietly, running his thumb over her scarred wrist. 

The emptiness in her lower belly ached and cried as she sighed. “Mostly. But that was no one’s decision but my own, and it is no one's fault but Yang Kum-ji and his men’s.” Naomi’s eyes glittered dangerously when she smiled sweetly and looked deep into Shin-Ah’s. “And believe me, Seiryuu- each and every one of them paid properly and dearly for it  _ all _ .”

Her truth felt like a ripple through Shin-Ah’s power and Naomi knew he really did believe it. Believed it enough to let go. He bowed as he exhaled the self-hate and bitter grudges he had carried with him like boulders. He touched his forehead to the back on her hand.

“I am so glad that you are alive, Naomi.”

The sincerity of his gratitude humbled the assassin. She choked on the emotions that filled her and ran her hand over the soft blue hair that was longer than she remembered it. “I’m glad too. It hurts, but I’m glad.”

He lifted his head and touched her face gently, but the movement was just a little too quick and she flinched. He sat back slowly and frowned. “It’s not you, Shin-Ah. I’m just a little… hair triggered. I… I have to take things slow.” He looked at her intensely. “Very slow, Shin-Ah. I don’t want to hurt either of us. Or anybody else for that matter.”

She rubbed her hands together, feeling the soothing scrape of callous over callous and looked at him from under lowered lashes. He cocked his head, thoughtful. “I have thought about it though.” His eyebrows narrowed in confusion. “Kissing you. I think about it when I feel safe. It’s a pleasant memory for me.”

Naomi smiled as the blush immediately rose from his chest to his neck and colored his pale, high cheekbones. “I’m glad it’s a pleasant memory for you too. But even if I felt ready, my body hurts too much to even think about trying.”

After looking very thoughtful, he took her warm hands and held them very gently. “Listen to me, Naomi,” He murmured solemnly and Naomi raised an eyebrow that he saw with a smile, but he continued seriously. “I will never ask you for something that you cannot give. I would wait for you until the end of time itself. I don’t need to kiss you to adore you. I want you to be free and happy and in good health. That is all I want and need from you. I have no other expectations.”

His declaration left Naomi speechless. She was wrapped in his power and felt more than heard the depth of his emotions, turning her own emotions to absolute mush. This man was a wonder. A treasure. So wise in his innocence and so innocent in his wisdom.

She smiled at him and Shin-Ah felt utterly rewarded for his blushing and his honesty. He hadn’t seen her smile like that in a long time.

“Thank you for your kindness and your patience, Shin-Ah. I am grateful for your compassion.” She slowly extended her hand to touch his smooth jaw with fingertips like butterflies. “I just hope you won’t avoid other opportunities in the future, my moonlight. I cannot promise my whole heart to another when I carry so many inside it. I don’t want you waiting for me forever. That’s too long to ask.”

He shook his head at her and smiled slightly. “You’re not asking. I’m telling you. I want you. Just you- regardless of who I share you with. I don’t care. I am content with knowing I have a place in your heart the way you have one in mine. Jae-ha says I’m foolish- I fell for an untameable force of nature, but I did, and I’m not afraid. I just want to walk alongside you while we stroll into legend.”

His power sparkled over her skin and she put her hand to her chest, breathing deep. It felt like the first full breath she’d had in a while. Then she reached out, brushing his bangs away from his forehead again and cradled his beautiful face in her hands. “You will  _ always _ have a place in my heart, Seiryuu. I’m so thankful I am with you on this quest. So very thankful I get to be here.” She whispered, touching her forehead to his, ignoring her aching shoulders and back. The pain stilted her movements, but she needed this. The chasm was mended, she had her gold-eyed dragon back, and she wasn’t feeling so awful anymore.

“Naomi, I- I lo-”

“Don’t say it yet.” She whispered, cutting off the words. “Not yet. I want more than this broken body when I hear those words come out of your mouth.”

A slow, wonderful smile crossed his lips. “If you wish, my lady.”

Deliriously good. That’s how it felt knowing he wanted her. More than wanted her.  _ Adored _ her, is what he said. The way he looked at her when he said it. He would keep. Yes, he certainly would.

She winced as she sat back and two or three muscles in her back seized painfully.

He still held her hand when he gave her a leading smile. “Can I offer to help you?”

Cocking her head in curiosity, she smiled. “Yes, you may offer.”

He chuckled at her tone and shifted so he was sitting on his heels, “I said I wouldn’t ask you for anything you couldn’t give. So I will ask you for your trust, Naomi.” The red haired woman’s eyes silvered as he finished with words that caressed her battered soul. “Trust me.”

She closed her eyes, hearing her voice echoing his across her timeline. “I do. I trust you with all I am.”

He brought her fingers to his lips, the way he’d seen Jae-ha do it, and kissed her knuckles. “Then I need you to finish this apple, and come lay down so I can work on your muscles. Hak’s been showing me the best way to do it.” He told her, putting the last half of the apple in her hands and grinning.

When her mouth didn’t close, Shin-Ah gently lifted a slice and set it on her bottom teeth. His grin didn’t fade as her jaw snapped shut millimeters from his fingertips. Her blush was very charming and Shin-Ah knew his face couldn’t hide what he was feeling. He rode the euphoria of her truth and stood to go rifle through his things.

It only took a few moments for Naomi to finish off the delicious apple and follow him back to where her cloak lay spread out. The moon had risen higher, leaving a small burning half moon in the sky, the light sparkling off the bottle Shin-Ah held out for her inspection.

She took it, studying the viscous liquid inside the amber glass. Uncorking it, Naomi was struck by a wonderful light, floral scent that she didn’t recognize, but enjoyed. 

“Do you like it?”

Naomi nodded as she handed the massage oil back. “It smells lovely.”

The man looked relieved to have chosen correctly.

Then an awkward moment came. Her fingers toyed with the grey hem of her blouse and hesitated. It wasn’t like her to be shy, but everything was new and Shin-Ah didn’t ask any questions as he turned to give her privacy.

Her grateful sigh made him smile.

Quickly, she stripped her blouse, her undershirt and her pants off and tucked them into her bag. The plain cotton underpants were modest and comfortable and Naomi didn’t waste any more time nervously dithering. She laid down on her stomach, rolling the top of her cloak into a makeshift pillow.

Shin-Ah didn’t know, but Naomi thanked herself for digging holes earlier beneath her cloak so she could lay on her stomach and bask in the sunshine. Her bust never would have forgiven her for lying flat on the unforgiving ground while the handsome dragon whacked at her back muscles.

The ground cupped her comfortably and she turned her head to watch him sit beside her, stretching out his fingers and hands. He smiled and slowly brushed his fingers over her hair before turning his attention to the master work of black and gold ink that lay before him, etched on her pale, pale back.

There were a few places that injury had marred the perfection of the ink, but they were details only his powerful eyes would linger on to notice. Her cuts and bruises had faded a while ago, but the memory of her wearing them still haunted the blue dragon.

He poured a measure of oil on his hands and rubbed them together to warm it, tracing the dragon tattoo with his eyes. It was an evocative piece, something that called to him in a way he couldn’t understand. “I’m going to start now, alright?”

She gave an ascent and tensed up until she felt his warm, strong hands press into her back and the smell of flowers enveloped her. She melted into the earth and he poured more oil on his hands, covering her back in it before he began to pressed firmly into the aching causeways of her body.

Beneath his hands, her body told him the truth. He had seen the scars beneath the ink, but it was another thing to feel the lattice work of them beneath his palms, to know that men like Yang Kum-ji had put them there when she had been nothing but a child.

Her secrets sickened and fascinated him. Would any of them ever be privileged enough to know the whole of her story? Shin-Ah prayed they would. Prayed that Naomi felt safe enough, loved enough, to tell them herself.

Following the instructions Hak had given him and the pointers that Yoon and Jae-ha had given him, Shin-Ah confidently pressed and stretched and finessed the stress tight muscles. It was difficult- they refused to completely let go of the fear and alarm that kept Naomi feeling aware and battle ready, but also kept her up at night.

For Naomi’s part, she floated on delicious pain as Shin-Ah firmly attacked the aches that plagued her. The way his callouses slid along her oil slick flesh made her lower belly flutter for the first time since Awa. The best part was she felt no desire to act upon that wonderful flutter and there was no obligation or expectation for her to do so.

The taste of apples in her mouth, sweet flowers in her nose, and warm, loving hands upon her skin. It was a hard earned paradise, but still paradise nonetheless.

“You should also talk to Jae-ha. He has some skill as an acupuncturist and Yoon has a lot of theoretical knowledge. They would both really like to help you too.”

Naomi cracked an eye at him.

“You think I should let the old man stab me with needles?”

“I do.”

“Sounds foolish. He might get my face stuck or make me lose feeling in my feet.”

“I don’t think he would do that.”

Naomi paused and grinned lazily. Shin-Ah chuckled to see it. “Well, not on purpose he wouldn’t. Ik-soo says he’s got a talent for it.”

“If the Priest says so, then I’ll take him at his word and consider it.”

Shin-Ah smiled and used the heel of his palm to push on the muscles of her lower back. There were several small pops as her spine shifted and released its deep held tension.

“Sweet Gods,” Naomi gasped in relief. Sighing beatifically, she turned her head to the other side and grimaced at the stiff ache there.

Feeling his hands leave her back, the languorous woman dreamily noticed the oil cooling in the night air and waited patiently for the warmth to return. Shin-Ah shook his hands out and closed his eyes, picturing Yoon’s practiced hand movements, rhythmically hitting Hak with the sides of his hands. He recalled the quick, precise strokes leaving no gaps and the consistency of the impact.

_ Confident _ , he thought to himself,  _ I am confident. I know her, I know myself, and I know what I am doing _ .

She didn’t even react to the beginning strokes she was so deeply lulled by the sensations Shin-Ah had steeped her in. He settled into a rhythm and worked up the far side of her back. He got halfway up when he noticed something odd. A quiet, musical hum that rumbled just within his hearing range. He opened his mouth to ask her, but stopped and waited for a time. It paused as her ribs expanded and began again.

He smiled to himself. Definitely her.

It was all the praise he needed. Leaning in, he concentrated on his work and the time flew by in comfortable almost silence.

When he moved back into rubbing her muscles out, he was pleased with how far he had come with her. But there was more he could do if he asked.  _ Confident, Shin-Ah.  _ He heard Jae-ha’s voice coaching him in the back of his head.

“Naomi?” He murmured. No reply.

His hands went slow and slid slowly up her back. “Naomi?” He said a little louder.

“Mmph.”

_ Confident _ .

“Sweetheart?”

_ Too confident. _

“Heyya, sleepyhead. I have a question.” He smoothed over, pressing his fingers up the sides of her spine.

Her head turned over and her eyes opened. “Yes?” She garbled, smush faced and smiling.

“Would you like me to massage the rest of you?” He rushed out and he could picture Jae-ha in his head, smacking himself in the face. 

Naomi heard it, thought about it, and without meaning to began to tense up once more. With his hands on her back Shin-Ah felt the change. “Easy,” he whispered, “you don’t have to turn over. But you certainly carry tension in more than just your back. We have quite a bit of oil, and I’m not tired.”

She lifted her face to look more fully at him. “You’re not?”

“Not a bit.”

He carefully rubbed a hard knot in her far shoulder, just above her shoulder blade, and her face sank back into its half smush. “Alright. But only if I get to return the favor at some point.”

The tips of his ears turned red at the huskiness of her voice. Whether intentional or not, it flustered him to stuttering and then to brief silence. He lulled her back into complacency before working down her left shoulder and arm.“I’m hoping I’ll get to the point that you will let me massage you whenever, even if only for a few moments. I don’t need anything in return. You need it more than I do.”

“And why is that?”

“I stretch.”

She made a funny buzzing with her lips. “So do I.”

“I stretch well and often.”

It got her for a moment and Shin-Ah smiled into the beat of silence.

“Pfft. Rude.” She muttered, looking quite blissful as his strong fingers rubbed at the muscles in her wrist and hand.

He was good and efficient, seeking the natural paths of her musculature and following them with firm, smooth strokes.

“You wear it well.” She told him suddenly. He cocked his head to the side and lowered it to see her face. “What?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Confidence.”

Jae-ha jumped up and did a strange dance, pumping his fists in the air at her words. Shin-Ah wondered at what a strange place his mind had become. “Thank you,” he replied warmly, appreciating the acknowledgement.

He worked back down her arm, then shifting to the other side of her body and beginning again on her other arm.

Shin-Ah admired her symmetry. There was no denying she was a beautifully built woman. Such strength hidden in her small body offset by her soft curves. He took special care with her shoulders and her neck, a place he longed to bury his nose in. Whispering soothingly he moved his careful fingers down and massaged the muscles of her chest just beneath her collarbones and where her arms met her shoulders.

“You should really consider the acupuncture.” He murmured near her ear and was fascinated as goosebumps rose across her body.

“I will.” Her breathy reply made a very male, very satisfied smile creep across his lips in the silence that followed.

“As long as you let me know, I give you permission to massage me whenever you feel like it.”

All Shin-Ah tasted was victory.

He worked on her until his muscles grew sore and he had learned her body safely- like all the men kept telling him he needed to. He was sure he’d thank them for it later.

The moon was beginning to set and lovely Naomi had fallen fast asleep.

Sitting back, he sighed and let the last few hours wash back over him. He had no idea that tonight would be so achingly perfect. It was more than he ever could have hoped for.

It had been scary, and difficult. It had also been free falling, flying, crossing that divide to reach her. His eyes lingering on the silky tangle of her night black hair. He sighed and stood to dress.

She would be embarrassed to wake up there come morning and a bed would solidify all his hard work in relaxing her wrung out body. He moved her belts and blades and bags off of her cloak, spreading the patched thing back out and proceeded to roll her in it, preserving his mental control and her modesty.

It took some finagling to hang all of her belongings from his shoulder, but he managed and scooped her limp body into his arms, like a rag doll that made cute little sleep noises he was not allowed to call snoring.

It felt like a dream to walk through the dark forests, clear to his eyes as if it was day, carrying this powerful, sensual half-goddess who slept like she knew she was safe in his arms. This was the Bloody Lover, the Angel of Death, now better known as Yami the Ripper, Master of the Dance of Death. Everywhere they went, he would hear tales of her. Monster they called her. Worse than her predecessor. Madwoman few called. God-Touched fewer whispered.

His legend was ancient, though he was young to it. Hers was young… but entirely self-built. Beautiful. Powerful. Deadly.

Like a child in his arms, the way her fingers curled around the gold chain of his necklace. The smells and sounds of the world assured him that this was not a dream.

Just outside of the small yard that led into the house, he hesitated in his step and halted. He looked down and saw her relaxed, open face in the clearest of detail- and he was dumbstruck. “I… I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing your face.” A small maneuver brought his lips to her forehead. “I look forward to finding out.”

_ Talking to a sleeping woman like a crazy person again, blue boy? _ Hak’s voice crept out of nowhere in the young dragon’s mind. He was certain Hak was asleep, but it startled him enough that he quickstepped it to the dwelling and laid Naomi on her sleeping mat and pillow.

These guys have been messing with my head too much, Shin-Ah thought to himself as he tucked her in, seeing Hak slumped on his mat. The young dragon was still covered in startled goosebumps.

He couldn’t resist stroking his hand through her long hair one more time before he wished her a good night and moved to his sleeping space on the other side of the room.

Ao jumped onto his chest and settled in to sleep- and Shin-Ah followed his companion into the deepest sleep he’d had since before Awa. It felt like bliss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, my friend, and while I have you here, let's chat~
> 
> I know things are crazy out there, no matter where you are in the world. We are in a time of fear and chaos- my country is in an upheaval and everywhere we look things are going from bad to worse. But humanity is strong, our Gods are watching, and I have the belief that we are stronger together. We have learned from our shared histories and we know better now. We know people are complex, people are human, and a human is a human, regardless of sex, race, religion, orientation, or any other personal factors- and our love for our fellow human is stronger than any fear or hate.
> 
> My reader, and people of my beloved Earth, I am praying. You, yourself, are in my prayers. I want you to be safe. I want you to be healthy. I want you to be happy. I want you to be free and know that you are loved. I know the Gods of our world are listening and if it takes billions of prayers to give you what I want, then I will pray until the universe listens to me. I'll shout from my rooftops until the stars get tired of hearing my voice.
> 
> My PM's are always open if you need an ear or a shoulder. I want to help you in any way I can.
> 
> I am praying as I write. I know my stories can't change this messed up world, but I will write like they can.
> 
> All my blessings upon you, gentlefriend. And thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
> 
> \- K.C. Harling  
the Lady of Souls


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

“You are _ absolutely _ sure you know what you’re doing right?” Naomi asked just one more time, looking incredulously from man to man, quickly glancing at Yona who gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. “I have seen some really weird-”

“Onee-chan.” Yoon monotoned as he passed Jae-ha the first needle. She swallowed her concerns and tried to relax while Shin-Ah and Yona practiced their advanced Rigmar sequences and Hak coached Zeno through his first few.

“I trust you, I swear. I have every confidence in your combined skill and ability.” She said unconvincingly, laying her head back on the wood floor. She felt self-conscious and vulnerable in her undershirt and a linen skirt Yoon had pulled from his organized closet.

Jae-ha poised the first needle and glanced down at her panicked face. “Maybe you should close your eyes. This will be relaxing, I promise.”

The tense woman sighed and closed her eyes, trusting the steadiness of Jae-ha’s hands and Yoon’s ability to spot a fuck-up in progress. The first needle felt like a small pressure in her thigh. She counted the steps Yona and the others wove through, watching the scene with her eyes closed. As she marked their breathing, more silver needles pressed into her sensitive aching body and she breathed through the urges to twitch.

It was interesting to feel suspended by them, her energy redirecting and flowing differently through her body as new points held her peaceful. She gave herself up to the silver.

_ Mmm, maybe they were right. _

Not that she’d say that of course until they had gotten through the process without getting anything stuck.

Figures drawn like the tapestries of her home moved through the Rigmar to the movement she could hear near her. It was wonderful to imagine her dearest ones dressed in the fine flowing garments that Belarusians favored during the warm seasons and bedecked in the ancient wealth that had once been the awe and envy of the northern continent.

They danced across her eyelids from the graceful movements of the Rigmar into a dream of galaxies and energy- power like lightning wove its way through her muscles and bones like a web hung delicately in the sky. It spun through her being, following the course strung out by steel rods jammed through chaos. Naomi heard the ritual drums pound and watched her family tapestries collide in colors and music splashed across her consciousness. 

The blessings in her Gods-touched blood coursed through her, streamlined by the acupuncture, and the assassin’s whole being seemed to sigh with relief. She floated on her peace and clarity for an indeterminate amount of time, letting it fill her in a way that she hadn’t experienced for a long time.

A soft puff of wind brushed a hair over her cheekbone and nose, and the urge to push it away brought into awareness. Cracking her eyes open, Naomi slammed back into full consciousness like a banging door.

The sun was in the complete other half of the sky, and Ik-soo’s silhouette was dark, seated next to her legs, and perfectly still. Was he praying? Was he awake?

“Ik-soo.” She murmured, her eyes acknowledging the number of silver needles sticking from her. She couldn’t move.

“_ Ik-soo. _” If her voice got any firmer, she would sit up and tear these pieces of metal from her skin and beat somebody.

A little shudder ran through the shadowed man, lifting his shaggy bangs and catching sight of her burning blue eyes. “Oh!” His smile slipped into place, but Naomi could feel the lingering strain in her friend. “You’re awake, Naomi. I’m sorry, I will get these out of you as quick as I can.”

The assassin felt her temper sharpen with every needle he removed. The silence that wrapped around the house made her burn. “Where are they?” She growled between clenched teeth.

Ik-soo pulled more needles from her legs and arms, making his way up her body with light-fingered determination. “Yoon went to Katan Village earlier. He’s been worried about the people he took care of before he joined your quest...”

Naomi wiggled her toes and tapped her fingers. “And the others were curious and followed him. Of course, they did. Did no one think to pull these out before they left? Or wake me to go with them?”

She did not like the raw feeling of abandonment that engulfed her, even as she knew that they never meant to make her feel that way. They knew she needed rest and recuperation- and Ik-soo had been left to guard and tend to her.

They also should have known better than to let her wake up, not knowing where her Princess was. “How long have they been gone?”

Plucking silver from her chest, Ik-soo’s mouth twisted in a worried grimace, “Longer than I expected them to be.”

Naomi felt the heat rising from her feet, steadily through her chest. She was patient though and she held completely still, coiling her brightly burning energy tight. “Yoon has been taking supplies to trade with Katan for a long time. He fights the slow degradation of his birth land in the only way he knows how.”

She had forgotten that Yoon was born to poverty in the Fire lands. He seemed such a worldly young man, yet before joining them, he had never been beyond his homeland before. Now that they had returned, it was only natural that he pick up where he left off caring for his people. Empathy relaxed her coiled rage somewhat. She wouldn’t begrudge Yoon his choice to care for those that needed his knowledge and kindness.

There was something niggling at her still, like a warning snaking its way around her spine. All Naomi knew was that she needed to get to her family as fast as she could. The need was what burned inside of her, what she held carefully in check as the Priest pulled the needles from her body and from her energy.

“I worry about the toll it takes on him to see his efforts go in vain. The Fire Tribe is crushing its people and draining the land of what little it still possesses. I worry for the future.” Ik-soo confessed, a guardian concerned for the welfare of his ward and a Priest impassioned for the greater good.

He began to finally pull the needles from her face and he wondered at the blaze of emotions that made her cobalt eyes dance and shimmer. “I can’t assuage your worry, Ik-soo. But I know that change is coming to Kouka, whether those in power are prepared or not. We will find a way to change these people’s fate. Yona will not let the Fire Tribe condemn the innocent to die.”

As he pulled the last needle, Ik-soo almost fell over, rocked by the power that streamed from her person. The Priest knew in his bones that Naomi had been changed as well. How- he didn’t know yet, but he knew it like he knew water was wet and the sun shines. She was the same young assassin who had chosen to follow her Princess- but she was something more now. He never imagined Naomi could be any more dangerous. What he knew and felt proved him wrong.

Her muscles flexed, and she sat forward with startling speed, Ik-soo moving swiftly to get out of her way as she leapt for her cloak, snatching one of her katanas in her free hand. “I’ll let you know the situation once I know it too, Priest.” She called as she swung the mottled cloth over her shoulders and pulled the hood to hide her hair and face.

If he would have blinked, he’d have missed the moment she tore down the trail, barefoot and wild. Even after she had disappeared, Ik-soo could taste the bittersweet power of her passing. “Oh Gods, I pray we are enough to hold her here when whatever You have unleashed upon the world is realized.” He murmured, clasping his hands and throwing his prayers to the Heavens. He couldn’t tell her, but he would pray with all his might that they would all survive that awakening.

* * *

Naomi couldn’t explain her haste or her need, but her feet thrummed over the dry, arid land like she was flying. She would have to thank Jae-ha, Yoon, and Shin-Ah for the care before she beat them with the flat of her sword.

She felt the way she had when her Dark Lady had healed her body at the Dance, like she was new and as sharp as her blades. Weeks of healing, practice, and care had paid off and Naomi felt stronger than she had ever been before.

Katan Village wasn’t far, but the panic that pressed her onwards made it feel leagues away. The worry competed with the manic joy that filled her as she soared like a bird of prey over land, entirely sure that no man or army would survive standing between her and her family. She rode the killing edge of her temper like a lover and bore down on the tiny Fire Tribe village like an oncoming storm.

She saw the small, quaint homes and the pounded dirt streets, echoing with the emptiness of a place where too many were now gone. The rice fields were dry and weedy, barely able to produce enough to feed those that were left. The assassin could see the elderly on their porches, holding what children they had close. Everyone she saw looked defeated and frightened. So like Awa, and yet, different. More subtle than Yang Kum-ji’s insidiousness, but the blatant neglect brought Naomi back to the village in which Yona was faced with the truth of her Father’s reign.

And there before her eyes, six Fire Tribe soldiers in their gleaming armor and an Officer took up the space of the main street. Her eyes cataloged everything in a few glances.

An old man laid face down in the dirt, begging mercy. Soldiers standing over a cart of supplies, greedy hands ready to steal it away from the starving. And the Officer of collections, holding the arm… of a little girl who cried for her father.

“This is just the right amount, isn’t it? The child will make up for the insufficient tax this time. If this isn’t what you desire, have the proper amount of rice or money next time. Let’s go.” One of the soldiers kicked the old man, who cried out for the child in despair.

It rang like a plucked harp string across her entire being.

A thunk knocked one of the soldiers, moving to take the food, to the ground, his shoulder bleeding. “What was that?” “S-Something jumped!” “Who did that?!”

Naomi ignored it all, her terrifying gaze focused on one target.

“Heeerrrreeee!” A familiar voice called before Jae-ha swaggered out with his hand raised from the shelter of some dry leafed bushes. “Who are you? You aren’t part of this village, are you?” Naomi observed his sharp, pirates smile and felt a matching one creep across her lips as she wove through the shadows toward her intended target.

She caught a glimpse of Hak standing up from the bushes as well. Wearing… Shin-Ah’s mane over his head?

As good a disguise as any for the Thunder Beast of Kouka, who had to chuck his glaive away when someone began to place its origins. The Dark Dragon indeed.

Moments converged, as Naomi reached her mark and Yona stepped out to address her adversaries. “Who do you think you are?!” The Officer yelled, tightening his grip on the little village girl, who wept and struggled to break free.

The whole village gave a collective gasp as he felt the lightest touch on his shoulder. Looking at the faces of his soldiers, the man felt fear run her cold fingers down his spine. The silence was deafening.

“I will give you a choice. Release the girl or lose your arm.” A deadly feminine voice purred behind him.

His soldiers began to tremble. No one had seen her arrive- she seemed to have just materialized behind their leader, her blade resting like a warning on his shoulder. The cloak hid everything about her, but the cold smile on her full lips. Even her family felt a small tremble of nervousness as Naomi shadowed the day with her dark glory.

“You have caused havoc in our territory and there is a steep price to pay- so who shall pay it? Everything here, from that child to the food, to whatever possession these people have belongs to us. If you understood anything, you would turn tail and run, and never come back, you brats!” Yona cried, her imitation of Gi-gan almost spot on. It made a part of Naomi want to laugh, but her focus was still on the worm before her, who still hadn’t responded. “So answer the lady! The girl or your arm!” Hearing her Princess say that was like a drink of ambrosia. Yona wouldn’t enjoy it if the man ended up losing his arm, but she also would do nothing to stop her assassin if he chose to forfeit it.

Naomi could see the stress tension building in the Officer’s neck and it almost made the assassin lick her lips. She felt so powerful, the knowledge of just how much pressure it would take to take his arm off sitting at the forefront of her mind. “He is an Official of the Fire Tribe army! You can’t do that!” “Are you bandits?!” His men yelled. A pitiful fight for a man that was already marked by death.

“There is very little in this world that makes me angrier than entitled shits stepping into our territory- and there is nothing that makes me happier to kill than finding a child snatcher in my presence.” Naomi’s voice was sweet and cutting in the Officer’s ear as Yona declared her people, including the assassin, to be bandits.

_ From pirates to bandits, not sure that is an upgrade. _

The Officer felt her begin to press into his shoulder, moments from lopping the limb off when his hand spasmed, and the little girl was whisked away by a grandmother who watched and witnessed from her porch.

“Excellent,” Naomi purred, “now tell me why I shouldn’t separate your head from your shoulders and kill all of your men before you can blink.” Her blade rotated and came to rest against the pale skin of the Officer’s neck.

He was sweating and stinking of fear, but he didn’t speak. “Yami.” Hak growled in warning, but it was hard to hear over the rising exultation in the assassin’s blood. She wanted any excuse to wipe these men from existence, but that golden chain around her soul kept her hand still and steady as she waited for his answer.

“You cannot hurt him! He is an Officer of the Law and our leader would destroy you for it!” A soldier bellowed at the assassin, which only made her smile wider. “But he will still be dead, and so will you, so that isn’t a very good argument, is it?”

The men paled and flushed, all of them beginning to yell the same refrain of ‘you wouldn’t dare’ and ‘you can’t’, but the Officer remained closed-mouthed, hoping the small leader of this bandit group would call off her murder hound.

“All these men speaking to save you, and yet you... haven’t... said… _ anything _ ,” Naomi breathed, relishing in the fear that she knew rooted his feet to the dirt and punched his heart into his throat. A minute movement and the smallest slice opened up in his skin to release a thin line of blood onto her blade. “Maybe you _ desire _ death to escape your cowardice and cruelty. I would be happy to oblige.”

She could kill him in seconds. She knew it. And he knew it too. The knowledge pressed down upon him like a boulder and made her spirit soar.

“I am… an Officer of the Fire Tribe General. I only do as I am ordered… as is my duty. I do not _ desire _ death.” He finally hissed between clenched teeth, projecting his utter terror as fury for being in this position. A moment passed and then another. He was sure he was about to die.

Naomi sighed. “I suppose that is as good an answer as filth like you can give.”

The blade left his throat and he collapsed as she moved around him, floating like a ghost toward her family. The Officer had wet himself and only his dark clothes hid the stain of his shame. But the wolfish grin on the assassin’s face told him she knew his weakness and enjoyed it. “Leave our territory and never return. You may not survive a second time.”

Her silky words struck fear in each soldier’s heart and buried itself like a knife in the Officer’s belly.

“Do you people really think… that you will get away with this?” He growled from his place in the dirt. Naomi took up a place next to and slightly behind her Princess’ right shoulder, her smile cold and calculating.

The soldiers gathered their leader, trying to look menacing, but failing in the face of the strange, frightening bandit group that stood before them. Monsters all of them.

“It is you that should learn your lesson. Don’t come near this village again. If something happens to this village, next time we…”

“Tha Dark Dragon…” Hak drawled. “And the Happy, Hungry Bunch!” Finished Zeno.

“..... will make you pay for it!” Yona cried, her finger pointed like an arrow at the heart of these corrupt officials. Kija’s giant hand flexed as if it would snatch them, and the men quickly found their way out of the village.

For a little while, the previous tension thrummed through the air, slowly vanishing as the feeling of danger ebbed away. Yona turned to Naomi, “Nee-chan, you really made him pee himself.” She stated with awe and amusement- as if the woman hadn’t really been absolutely ready to litter this village with the men’s corpses.

The hood fell back and the sword went back into its sheath as Naomi smiled sweetly at her little sister. “Of course, I did. I wouldn’t let a child thief go without some show of breaking him. _ You _, my dear, certainly know how to make a statement on your own though.”

Hak put the white fur back on Shin-Ah’s head and went to find where his blade had landed as Yona considered. “I wonder if it’ll be fine… to be a bandit for once in my life.” Jae-ha laughed, “You’ve already given out our bandit group name and both of you made threats against a man’s life. We’re already bandits.”

“Ah, you make a good point.”

“And it looks like you are in fine form after the acupuncture, Lady.” The man continued, taking in the absolute power that pervaded the assassin and the sharpness of the wicked smile she turned on him. “I feel… perfect, old man. I appreciate your work, even if I do_ not _ appreciate how I was left. Considering the situation, I will let it go ( _ this time _). But you know, I’ve never been a bandit before.”

“Really?” Yona asked, curious.

“I’ve been a mercenary a few times, but banditry was never really my style. It’ll be a fun one to add to the list, I think.” She caught sight of Yoon’s panicked face and softened her expression. The danger was over and she had people to look after now.

“Why are you all taking this so lightly! Idiots! We need to go! Now!” He pleaded. “They will come back with hordes of soldiers to wipe us out!”

Naomi began to say something to soothe the young man when Yona asked, “There are many villages like this in the Fire Tribe, right?”

Yoon stopped his panicking for the moment and confirmed that most of the villages were like this. “And everywhere is impoverished and has heavy taxes?’

“.... Yes.” Yoon replied.

Yona tilted her head down thoughtfully, “Then we will be unruly bandits and expand our territory. That way we can protect the people who have had heavy taxes unjustly levied upon them.” In her contemplations, Naomi saw her Princess take another step towards changing her country for the better. If they could pull it off.

“It isn’t that simple, Yona! If they fall behind in collections, they levy even stricter taxes! If we do this badly, the soldiers of Saika will descend upon the innocent and on us!”

The Princess lifted her head, “They can come anytime.”

Yoon stared at her wide-eyed, and Naomi’s heart thumped with pride at the fierce stance of Yona’s shoulders. “If they desert impoverished children and the sick to protect themselves from danger, then they have their priorities backward.”

_ The Queen has spoken _, Naomi thought. Another step towards the ruler she would become. Yona turned her eyes to her older sister with a smile. “Besides… I don’t think I will lose to them. Not with everyone here.”

“But-!”

“Yoon, surely you of all people understand how to efficiently move to put the Officers under pressure.” He couldn’t argue with her assessment. His pride couldn’t let him surrender and his soul burned with the desire to help save the people of his birth land. With the might of the Princess’ assembled forces, they would put up a damn good fight at least.

Zeno slid into the conversation, “Well, that settles it! Let’s start the revolt of the Dark Dragon and the Happy, Hungry Bunch!”

He crowed their bandit name and Naomi dissolved into giggles. The sight made her whole family smile with joy, a moment that they had longed for. Although Yoon did comment back, “First of all, that name will not pressurize them!”

Naomi thought it apt though, with how their stomachs all grumbled and growled, but their faces were alight with purpose and mischief. Perhaps being a bandit with them would be more fun than she thought.

She put her arm around Yona’s shoulder and looked at their men, “So, where do we start, Boss?”


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Do as we say if you don’t want to die!” Swaggering like the pirate she had become, Yona pointed her finger and ordered the confused citizens of Jelp Village.

It had been two days since the others had come to aid Katan village and declared them all bandits- two days of expanding their territory with the whole gang present, in possession of the taxes and food stuff that had been collected, and acting like creepy outsiders. The villagers living in the derelict villages they found complied with anxiety and quiet reluctance. She could see in their eyes what these poor people considered as they were informed that their village belonged to the Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch now. 

Strange and not like any bandits to have robbed them before.

_ Except that we aren’t robbing them_, Naomi thought as she picked at her nails with a small dagger. _ In fact, we are doing the opposite. _Her small cold smile and the menace that could roll off her at the slightest hint of hostility ensured that whatever charming demands Yona made, the people of the village still understood that they were bandits. Bad People. Giving candy to children aside.

Hak swung an ax around like a thug, but all of the villagers kept a wary eye on the cloaked woman who wore her blades as an open threat.

Once the taxes had been redistributed, the group gathered near the entrance, and Naomi moved to lean on Hak’s back like a table, hunched and sitting as he was on a small box across from a short ridge. “Yoon, where is the next village we go to?” Kija queried. Yona let Ao chase her hands in circles, smiling.

“Let’s see… At this time, the officers are supposed to go to Shuu Village too.”

“It is far?” Hak asked, taking his hat from his head to lean back, shifting Naomi to lean her forearms on his shoulders and her chin on his head. Over the last couple weeks, he had learned to take this initiated contact with the utmost calm and respect. He counted each as a blessing and a reassurance from the sharp, careful woman. Yoon looked at the two of them patiently. “Yeah, a little. What should we do? Officers might come to Katan again, too.”

“I will guard Katan, so don’t worry about that,” Jae-ha confirmed earning a grateful nod from Yoon. Naomi clicked her tongue drawing all eyes.“Hak will go with you, Yoon, and I will go to Shai, Kell, and Heath to meet up with you on your way back.” Yoon blinked, “You’re going where?”

Hak felt her huff a small laugh, “If I remember correctly, there are two villages and a small settlement between Shuu, here, and Katan. This means they are under our rule and that needs to be established before the taxmen come stealing children again.” Or other scum try to set themselves up in the heart of the land Yona was claiming.

“That is true, but how do you know where they are?” Yona asked, putting Ao to her shoulder. The assassin raised a snarky eyebrow with her crooked smile, “I can read a map just as well as the menfolk. I allow them to feel like they choose where we go as long as it is where I think I should be as well. And you know I can handle whatever is in these places, I’m a.. people person.”

Jae-ha snorted and grinned from Yoon to Naomi, who smiled like a killer. Yoon sighed then turned and stated firmly, “Yona will wait here.”

The tone brooked no argument, but the Princess did try. “The next place is far, and we don’t know if officers will come. For our fighting force, the thunder beast and… right, if Kija is there, it’ll be fine.” As long as those two powerhouses went, Naomi doubted there would be much resistance from anyone and Yoon would smooth things over with the residents. “We need someone here and you’re it, Yona.”

“Then Zeno will hold down the fort with the Miss!” The Yellow Dragon crowed joyfully until Kija’s terrifying hand clamped onto his shoulder, “Don’t you just run around in the middle of battle? This time I will teach you the ways of fighting like one of the Four Dragons. **Come**.”

There was no denying his ferocity, but when his face turned solemn and he looked to the masked man at his side, Naomi saw the fierce determination solidify into unwavering commitment. “Shin-Ah, we’re entrusting the Princess to you.”

His face didn’t move, but the Blue Dragon bowed his head and accepted his charge. Naomi smiled and patted Hak’s cheek before she stood and went to tug on a lock of Yona’s hair. She moved like oil over water and Jae-ha shuddered at the beautiful, eerie movement. “All of us should return later today or tomorrow. Look after Shin-Ah and the villagers- Yoon wasn’t kidding about other bandit gangs being around. You have those arrows, little sister. Do not hesitate to use them.” Yona looked at the other woman with soft, thoughtful eyes.

“You be careful too, Naomi-nee. And… this may be the only real order I will ever give you, but,” The Princess’ eyes blazed, the cord tightened, and Naomi fought to remain standing. “Protect my people, Naomi. The guards and officers are still my citizens and are not at fault for following orders so you will leave them alive and unharmed- but if someone brings harm to the innocent for their own selfish gain, then you may do as you see fit.”

The assassin considered the command, mulled over her desire to eviscerate the members of the Fire Tribe government, and found it satisfactory. Hand over heart, she bowed her head. “As you command, my lady.” Her eyes went to Shin-Ah who tilted his chin to her, acknowledging her own silent command to him. He knew his responsibility.

She turned with a grin to Jae-ha, “Have fun flirting with the old ladies, grandpa.”

He swore at her but was cut off as she gave his nose a light twist and patted Zeno on the head. “You guys try not to get into too much trouble.” Her smile was crooked, but there was a warmth in her eyes that felt like sunshine on their faces

“What else can you expect, Nee-chan?” Yoon said wearily, slipping under her arm for a brief hug with Yona. Kija tucked an extra apple in her bag while he thought no one was looking and wished her luck. 

This would be the first time since Awa that Naomi separated from the group and it struck a chord of terror in each of them, but there was no kind or right way to express the fear. So they had to trust instead.

She wouldn’t do this if she didn’t feel ready.

Hak leaned against the tree that her bag rested against and watched as her fingers brushed over Shin-Ah’s as he pressed her bow and quiver into her hands. It made the large warrior sigh with grateful relief.

At least whatever happened going forward, that had righted itself on track. The weeks following Awa, he had swallowed his desire to butt into their business and try to bring them back together. His words to the Blue Dragon on the ship would return and he would see himself in her, broody and dark and hurting; and he would think how he would feel with someone sticking their nose into his recovery with unsolicited matters of the heart, even with the best of intentions.

He remembered that day in the hills of Awa, watching Naomi flee into the woods and Shin-Ah choke on the panic of the moment and the willpower Hak had commanded in him. The big man still recalled the queasy guilt and wild fear that something had broken in their group that may not ever be healed. The moment he reached for the Blue Dragon, who’d collapsed to the ground shaking and staring off into the distance, he felt the pain of being unable to look away from something agonizing.

It was like the man couldn’t get air into his lungs. No matter how Shin-Ah tried, all that came out of his mouth were gasping chokes. All the words practiced, all the focus, all the patience to get her to this point of coming home and it hadn’t been enough. Neither had been ready to be overwhelmed at her return. Naomi ran and Shin-Ah never looked away, falling to his knees when there was nothing keeping him standing. The other dragons rushed to aid their brother, but he bared his teeth in a savage snarl and bowed his head, blocking all of them out and he did not rise for a long time.

The following weeks couldn’t be described as awkward, despite the silence and dark emotional clouds, thanks to Zeno’s baffling strangeness and the stalwart determination of the family to weather the storms of recovery in any way they could. They sparred and laughed, embracing every flash of darkness as a step forward. And somehow it had been just enough with Naomi determined in her own way to find clearer skies.

She kissed Kija’s cheek, the contact startling a beautiful ruby blush from the man, and a sweet smile from her. The dragon should have known nothing escapes her watchful eyes. Naomi prowled toward Hak and he took a deep breath, exhaling the many weeks of tension as she approached. He offered her travel bag to her with a stern smile, “I won’t bother telling you to be careful, but be cautious.”

“Isn’t that the same thing, _ aniki _?” She interrupted with a cheeky grin. Hak clicked his teeth. “Smartass. Don’t scare the villagers too much. We’ll see you soon, alright?” He tried not to look too intense, but she heard the promise, the faith in his words, and her face softened. Her hand went to his broad shoulder as she moved past him. “Give those officials a rough time for me. I will see you when I return.”

Hak felt the pressure of her hand and leaned over slightly to plant a gentle kiss on the top of her head. It was welcome contact, a reassurance against the fear of seeing her go. He didn’t see her smile until she turned to give them a short wave at the curve of the road East and it was the smile of a woman who knew she was cared for.

Yona came up to his side, her eyes still on the dip of land Naomi had just vanished into. “This feels important. As worried as I am, I can’t help but wonder what stories she’ll have when she returns. I’m… excited to see what she will do now that she feels strong again.”

The large man hummed and crossed his arms casually. “It’ll be her first test completely following your orders if she comes across any Fire Tribe patrol. You did well for giving your older sister orders, but she was rather strange with that officer in Katan. So we shall see how far the Angel of Death flies on your leash, Princess.”

Yoon approached along with the others, preparing to leave for their duties. “Naomi would do anything for Yona. If the Princess says don’t kill the officers, I don’t think her Assassin will. I’m worried about her walking into worse and _ not _ coming to get back up.” Everyone grimaced, except Zeno who had climbed onto the small rise and sat knee up with his chin propped up by the back of his wrist. He gazed at them with adoration and a silly smile.

“That the angel flies is a blessing of itself. Miss Naomi is capable and adventure is in her blood as it is in ours. I’m sure we’ll all have news to share when we return,” Zeno sat up and his stomach growled. “So let’s get going on this revolution and get some road food!”

“You are gluttonous,” Yoon uttered darkly.  
  


* * *

  
Naomi munched thoughtfully on the third apple she’d discovered tucked into her bag- two more than she’d put in there. She wondered if she should drop that she really enjoyed a southern fruit called a pear as well to her strange family. Who had gotten the third one in there? She did wonder.

The road between the settlement of Shai and the nearest village, Kell, was a single set of worn tracks through dry grass, and the dusty remains of what must have been farms before famine came to these lands on hot winds and booted feet. It felt like it had truly been a long time since she had hit the road on her own. Though it hadn’t been _that _long really since she had gone to Chishin and took back what was hers. So much had happened, it certainly felt like ages since then.

She hadn’t realized how much she missed the quiet calm of walking a lonely road, hyper-aware of her surroundings and yet, mulling over philosophy and humming songs she had learned on the flute at the same time comfortably.

When she’d first arrived in Kell just before midafternoon, it took her all of four seconds to attract the notice of the sparse denizens. Eyes peered from darkening doorways and thin faces disappeared behind thatch-roofed houses as she had passed. It hadn’t looked like the people could survive another tax season or another winter. She hardened her heart and let the violence in her bones pervade the air around her.

The Head of Kell met her in the village center where she demanded he bring everyone in the village before her. He had trembled, but the casual way she rested her hands on the bone-handled hilts of her blades and the eerie way she spoke, he did what she asked with reluctant dread. Whether he thought she was a bandit or not from that first meeting she didn’t know, but as she gazed out at the huddled assembly of the thin, the old, the weary, and the sick, she had to take a deep breath and remind herself what the difference their protection would make on this village. She thought of Yona. These were her people and who she was fighting to be a better sovereign for.

Naomi knew they had stashed some of the younger children in their homes, hoping she’d never know about them, whatever she was to do. The older ones stared at her with frighteningly dull and accepting eyes, wide in their starveling faces. These people had been hungry for too long.

Telling them that their village now belonged to her bandit gang, the Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch, might have been the hardest sentence in Koukan she’d ever had to say with a straight face, and she’d had many ridiculous translation mistakes. But they didn’t laugh and she understood well enough that bandits were nothing new to these people.

“We have nothing for you to take,” their leader told her, his eyes almost invisible beneath his age wrinkles and wild eyebrows.

“Whatever you have, it is ours. All your houses, animals, food, money, everything belongs to the Dark Dragon. We take nothing as long as you understand that.”

Some people had begun to cry silently and she’d forged on briefly describing her family members as terrifying bandits. “This is our territory. If any strangers not of the Dark Dragon threaten anything in this village, we will destroy them. If you rebel against us, we will destroy you.” Her cold voice had sent shivers through the crowd of weak peasants. They’d been genuinely frightened of her.

“Your children.”

“No, not our children.” The guardians of the young wept and begged. The older children in the crowd didn’t flinch or cry. They continued to stare at her as if they didn’t believe she was real.

“Yes, your children,” Naomi said with horrifying gentleness, “Your children belong to us as well. As much as your animals, your food, and you. If any outsider puts their hands on the children of this village, they will be hunted down. If you try to take any children away from here, you will be hunted down the same way. As they remain in this village, they will be safe and unharmed. Do not test us though. There will be someone coming here on patrol at least once a week to ensure that our rule is being enforced.”

It was hard to see the elderly leader lower his brow to the ground and beg for his village, but Naomi’s jaw set dangerously and she ordered them all to bow to her. Just like that, Naomi had taken the village of Kell for her bandit gang.

After commanding the people back to their homes, she took the leader to his home and stunned him when forced two sacks of coins into his hands, ordering him to store one bag somewhere safe and to use the other to purchase food and supplies. She could see the whiplash confusion as her voice threatened him with bodily harm to help save his people.

Before leaving she told him to send word to Katan if anyone threatened the village. It made no sense and she knew it, but as long as he remembered and did as she asked, she would use it to keep them off balance and in line.

Her next stop would be the settlement, then the village of Heath. After she would meet up with Hak, Yoon, Zeno, and Kija to return to Jelp. Naomi wondered how a little settlement would survive out here when even small villages were struggling.

When she arrived, she got her answer.

They didn’t.

Shai was barely more than a tiny shantytown near a dry riverbed. The population Naomi would have put at no less than ten, but no more than twenty- if there was anyone left.

Naomi knew a ghost town when she felt one. The burned earth and dried blood spatter on shattered hinge doors told her that this was not a peaceful migration from a bit land that had become uninhabitable. This vulnerable little bit of the Fire Tribe had been visited by violence and from what it looked like to Naomi’s trained eye, no one had survived. Did General Kan Soo-Jin know that Shai was littered with skeletons? The place was off the beaten path but… surely some patrol would have made it out here.

Rounding to the beginning of a small game trail, she found decaying corpses in uniforms, some of them in pieces.

_ Shit _.

Doubling back through the short main street, she counted bones and considered the death around her. She could see torches and shortswords, daggers, and alcohol painting the picture of the likely raid. No horses. The tavern esque shack had taken the worst of the damage.

Her booted feet kicked up little puffs of dust in the dirt floors as she checked and noted all that was looted and the way the bodies lay. She wasn’t surprised when she saw the large RP carved crudely on a precious wood plaque that once held the scene of a lovely woodland stream.

They’d come months too late to help these people and there was no room in her to grieve them.

Naomi closed her eyes and breathed deep the odor of the tomb, knowing that she might have a bigger problem on her hands than she realized.

“Fuck.” She muttered, rubbing her hands over her face. No need to be a genius to know that battles for dominance among bandit gangs could be ugly and drawn-out affairs. Claiming territory meant stepping on other people’s toes. Or putting knives between ribs.

Resting her hands on her hilts she thought of her next move. She didn’t think of her Master or her Lady- this time she pictured Yoon, his face in anguish for his people, the people he wanted to save. She imagined Yona by her side, stricken at the fate of her forgotten citizens. What would she command of the Master of the Dance?

_ Protect my people. _

Naomi gripped her blades and opened burning blue eyes.  
  


* * *

  
Of the three places she had planned to visit, Heath was the one that she knew would be the easiest or the hardest. Maps indicated it was larger than the other two and closer to a trade road but still isolated in the rocky desert of the Firelands. The higher population meant it was a more frequent stop for officials, but with the state of the settlement… whatever was in Heath, she’d be ready. There she planned to acquire a horse to hightail it to Shuu. Bringing at least one of the boys felt like a smarter option, in case she truly found herself outnumbered and in a pinch when she went after the gang that had likely massacred Shai.

Yoon had told the group that he’d estimated that there were between five to seven other bandit gangs operating in the Firelands. Some were more established than others, possibly operating in other parts of the kingdom as well. A menace and the consequence of a system that punishes those that toil and reward those that surrender to their lowest instincts. A gang with the mark RP could be a local threat or one of those larger operations- either way, they would cease operations in the areas Yona claimed, one way or another.

She could smell the village before she could see it in the last rays of the afternoon sun. She stumbled slightly on a dead dog sprawled in a back alley into the southern side of the village and the pit in her stomach turned cold. The silence deepened her anxiety and upon seeing the empty stables and the dead stablekeepers, Naomi realized that the problem had already come to Heath, and the only way out of the village safely was on foot.

Lumbering out of the rising shadows, three figures carrying sacks and crates shuffled boisterously past the stables. Heading deeper into the village, yelling at each other about the size of their ‘swords’, Naomi followed, noting the blade marks on the walls and roofs turned to ashes. From the rotting bodies of men, holding or reaching for shoddy fallen weapons, she had been a week late to stop whatever was happening in Heath. She came across two different dusty battlefields, where fallen Fire Tribe soldiers had been left to rot in their uniforms, stripped of weapons and armor. A harrowing sign.

Naomi’s jaw grew tighter and tighter as she noted the disparity between the corpses. How few women and how many men lay decaying in the shop. She knew from experience that gangs were shaped by whoever led them. Some had codes and hierarchical order instilled among the criminals working to exist against the system. Others thrived on chaos and pleasure, rough and tumble groups who turned to this path to indulge in evil that cannot thrive in civil society.

Some must have begun to try and save their homes, but if there is no food and no hope, even the most well-meaning man may turn into a monster who preys on those like the people he wished to protect. Regardless of how they start, those that come to a village on the edge of survival and do something like this- monsters only live while other monsters turn their eyes.

This one was now hunting.

A wise part of her mind stilled her, thinking of all her excellent reasons for going to get Hak, Yoon, Zeno, or Kija. Or all four. Excellent reasons.

Her feet made no sound following the unwary bandits on their path, holding food that did not belong to them. Two others, a man and a woman, joined them carrying wrapped meats and grinning.

Her quicksilver mind bounded through plans and considerations- there were more bandits likely in the city proper, she had no idea how many bandits were gathered in the area, the vaguest idea of hostages, and no backup. It was the exact kind of situation her Master had always taught her to avoid. Then again were he alive, there was a long list of deeds and misdeeds over the years, and over the last few months, he would give her his stern face and an icy lecture for.

_ Protect my people. _

Naomi agonized over the thought: spend the time traveling to Shuu and back for help in which she left any still with the bandits to their mercy or risk leaving herself vulnerable to the unknown variables of the situation?

She pictured their faces- the shivering people of Kell, the battered citizens of Katan and Jelp, those the Fire Tribe General decided as useless because they could not fill the ranks of his army. They needed care and protection- and he had abandoned them. If he didn’t know, he was incompetent. And if he did and performed the barest minimum while still taxing them into starvation, he was worse than incompetent. She saw the women of Awa, huddle in a dark prison, hopeless and despairing.

_ Protect my people. _

Naomi’s right hand went to her amulet, reaching out to her Patron: _ Dark Lady, full of wisdom, how do I best keep my oath? Does Death ride for Heath this night? Will I be too late? _

The glow of torches and shadows within a low cave dug like a wide mouth into the base of a large sandblasted hill. The sounds of raucous laughter, fighting, and cheering as more food arrived, filled Naomi’s gaze like a painting.

Feathers brushed her arms and hands like claws gently rested on her shoulders.

The streaks of twilight were being swallowed by the oncoming night and Naomi had to remind herself to breathe. The bone beneath her left hand was smooth and warm beneath her fingers, different but similar to the delicately pulsing heat of the onyx and gold she touched with reverence. Power coiled in her bones and the Lady of Blessed Night smiled in her soul.

_ Do what you must, daughter. Be what you are. _

Naomi filled her lungs to capacity and sighed deeply. The world slid into perfect clarity and she smiled, purpose bringing her peace. Did Death ride for Heath this night?

She advanced into the darkness, drawing her daggers.

It did now.  
  


* * *

  
The stragglers still rifling through the remains of the hollow village never saw her coming. After approaching the cave and giving her best assessment of how absolutely screwed she was, eliminating anyone who might come upon her back felt best and she painted the empty streets and looted stores with their blood.

Night had taken the land and none had more than a second to gasp before their life ended.

_ Go, go, go_.

There was a sizable distance of prickly grass and sparse brush that separated the village from the craggy cave mouth. The path from the village snaked across the small low plain to the lower side of the cave mouth. Crossing the dry land made the hairs on the back of her arms stand on attention, being so out in the open. She observed two torch-bearing groups returning to the cave and remembered the glimpses inside she had gained, taking the high ground and focusing her senses within.

A small bonfire in the center of eight sweaty grinding people, a five-person band, ten, no eleven people lounging and drinking with one sitting on a grand chair that was most definitely stolen. Food and items of interest were piled around the table that the grand man, possible leader, sat on like a king accepting tribute. Everything stripped from the village was doled out and consumed by the wild men and women, easily identifiable with their furs and weapons within easy reach. It smelled like bandit- like smoke, meat, blood, horse, and man sweat. Fear and ecstasy was a piquant scent rising to tickle her nose.

Peeking back in from her careful vantage point above the madness, Naomi felt the power in her turn frosty- it burned like rage, but it came from a wicked place inside her, a calm place. There were rickety built cages, some covered and some not, built near the opposite curve to Naomi's tall side of the cave mouth. The man on his bandit throne rose directly facing them on his high rise, a woman joining him on the table, painted and sneering. 

She counted and slid into that killer calm, the sparkling icy rage crafted from years of abuse, honed razor sharp in Awa. Interspersed within the bandit crowd she counted six women with their hands bound and their feet hobbled. One not-captive woman with spike green hair and a nasty sneer hung near the cages with her arm over a dead-eyed boy, no more than eleven or twelve. When she squinted, she could see little fingers wrapped around the bars of those shitty cages and frightened little shadows beneath the loot of too many villages.

There had been no tiny bodies in either Shai or Heath. They had not killed the children- this bandit gang had _ taken _ them. The women they hadn’t killed knelt around them, shaking and silent, desperate only not to draw attention. Wagons and horses were positioned just beneath the rocky ledges that textured the walls across the back of the cave. Along the wall farthest from her, she considered the three men with their hands bound above their heads. They were on full display, nothing near them to give cover.

_ You must be clever, little dragon. You must seek the best opportunity as it presents itself. _ From her memory, Master Hiro placed a steadying hand on the back of her neck. The bandits she had followed earlier arrived, bringing on more cheers and drinking. 

Thirty-five bandits, all armed, all wildly intoxicated on the terror and booze. It was hard for Naomi to identify the ages of the women in the crowd, harder to try and count the children. Naomi counted every covered cage as a villager and embraced the cold in her soul against the sick knowledge that getting _all_ of them out would be a real goddamn trick to pull off.

Three men, six women, seven children she could see, and four cages she couldn’t identify as containing a human or not.

The odds were certainly not in her favor. Naomi knew she could slaughter the bandits, but not before any number of them could turn their weapons on the innocent women and children. She couldn’t go leaping headfirst into trouble again.

A cry from below pulled her attention as a bandit man snatched the long wavy hair of a young woman, laughing and carousing, while his fellow cheered him and another bound woman fought to stop him. The bandit women yelled crude obscenities with the menfolk, shoving the captured villagers and jeering. The other woman to cry out had wavy hair too and she sobbed as they hit her and laughed.

It was a sound that would never fail to ring across her timeline. Never failed to bring her to a time where no one had come when she cried like that. Someone had fought for her then too, but neither had been strong enough to protect the other.

The man pulled the young woman toward the lip of the cave, cheering her tears, her terror, her struggle to free herself. The shadows took them out in the open and Naomi moved like she had wings down the sandy hill. The young woman screamed her rage and he laughed one last time, before Naomi was upon him, blade flashing as she struck, piercing flesh and bone to plunge out of his open mouth. He slumped and Naomi held his corpse pinioned to the sky before she kicked him sideways and ripped the dagger free. “Keep screaming,” Naomi growled at the ghost pale woman laying in the sand. There was blood on her face and chest, which rose and fell sporadically as she screamed and gasped.

A short, strong-boned woman, about twenty years old, with beautiful brown waves and pale blue eyes. “I need you to find your courage, girl, or tonight may be our last. I cannot fight and get those children out at the same time. You have loved ones in that pit. Work with me to get everyone out and I will kill every person in there that hurt you.”

Shock and a spike of terror flashed across the woman’s glassy eyes, but after a moment she grabbed the arm the gripped Naomi’s bloody dagger. Her face was wild with desperation, but she nodded and spat on her assailant bloody face.

Leaving the bandit’s corpse on the hillside, she brought the raw voiced woman, Reina, back up to the high lip of the cave. The dancing had gotten raunchier as the heat of the fire divested many of the dancers of their clothing, sweat-slicked skin bumping and smearing battle paint and pulling eyes. The man on his fake throne was fully distracted by the woman who had climbed onto his lap, pouring wine from a silver pitcher into his mouth and down her chest. Two of the bandits had moved to use the men hung on the walls as punching bags. The wet meaty thumps of fist on flesh counterpointed the lively music.

“My mother is down there,” Reina whispered harshly, gazing at the bruised older woman lying at the feet of a broad-chested warrior, dancing a small dagger through his fingers.

“Is there any way out down there or are the bastards between the only way out?”

Reina shook her head. “There is no exit down there. One of the Heath girls told me they used to hold high festivals here, away from the officials’ eyes." Her pale eyes cut to the men on the wall and returned to Naomi. "When they came to their villages, the guards barely did anything, eventually, couldn’t do anything, and then the Phantoms took this place as theirs. It was the same in my home. At first, it was just one or two that would cause trouble. Then more would come, stealing and bullying. At that point, it was too late, they finally took everything, killed who they didn’t want, and moved on. I’ve watched them keep this up for months here.”

If this wasn’t the full group, Naomi could see how this gang had completely overwhelmed the already weakened villages. They were parasites, claiming a place to suck it dry of all resources until nothing was left, bringing their spoils back to a home base, and moving to the next best place.

“You’re from Shai.” Reina gave a sharp nod, focused on her vulnerable mother amid the monsters. “How many of you are down there?”

“There were more. Not too long ago small groups of them would take a random picking of kids and adults, and just leave with them. None have come back. They were expecting more today to come in today.”

So there were other members scattered out on the land. This was just who remained behind to party and enjoy the stolen goods. “And the live practice dummies?” She motioned at the entertainment. Reina’s face darkened and the assassin got a good look at the hatred in those eyes. She knew before the girl opened her mouth to speak.

“They are soldiers from Saika. The Phantoms didn’t bother them until they took a village. After that, any who showed up were killed or captured. I’ve seen some of them get picked to be taken too. These are the last from this week’s bullshit attempt to retake this village.”

The way she tripped over the word, Naomi knew Reina didn’t curse very much.

“They will be the hardest to reach and because they are, you will leave them to me.”

“None of them are worth risking your neck for. It’ll be hard enough to get the children out. Leave them to rot like they did us.” The peasant girl spat. For three heartbeats, Naomi considered agreeing. She didn’t care if they got out of that cave. But…

“It is alright to hate them, Reina. I could say that I hate them too. Yet, I know what the word conscription means in this tongue and I know that in places of despair, there are often two paths for those that are hungry. Join the military and be fed by the government or turn to banditry and leech off of what’s left.” She put her hands on the other woman’s shoulders, reaching deep for the compassion she had been taught. “Between the two choices, most good young men will choose to be a soldier and hopefully earn his family a meal with their service. I do not know if those men down there are good or bad, but I do know those bandits are worse. We can hate them- but we cannot abandon them."

Naomi wondered where those other people had been taken. So many questions to ask. Only one way to find out.

“Listen to me very carefully. I am going to get you to the bottom of this cave from up here. We will use the cover of the wagons and the horses to get to the cages. You will release those in cages and I will do my best to quietly kill those on the outskirts to clear you a path. We will gather who we can close to the exit and when we are discovered because we will be, you will take all you have and charge for the entrance.” She unbuckled two daggers from her thigh and buckled them around Reina’s waist, “I will kill all that I can, but you may need these to carve out that path. Get all that you can out and leave the rest to me. If any escape me and follow you, I want you to gut them like a pig, pointy end first.”

Reina looked poised between fainting and weeping, “My-my mother?”

The assassin’s face was hard as stone and her eyes shimmered with darkness. “I will do all I can and pray my Lady has Her hand on our luck.” Sweeping her large cloak over them both. “Close to the wall, watch where I put my hands and feet.”

Not giving either of them a moment to doubt, Naomi pressed the frightened peasant girl towards the lip of the cave, onto the precarious ridges. Her whole body screamed with tension, half holding a shivering Reina to the wall. Moving slowly and using her body to guide the young woman down the short twenty-foot drop, keeping to the edges, Naomi prayed her cloak, tucked into her sleeves, confused any drunk wandering eyes.

She was breathless with adrenaline, silently chanting Reina on as the terrified peasant's fumbling fingers clung to the oddly shaped natural rock that sometimes required fingertips steeled with terror. The girl could feel every deep, controlled breath the red-haired woman took, the strength of her body utterly unwavering. Caged around her, Reina kept her eyes on the dim forms of the woman’s hands and did her best to keep her breathing in time with the assassin’s. It was the only thinking that kept her from panicking over the death-defying odds she was risking.

If this glittery eyed woman wasn’t as good as she hoped, they were both going to die.

And then they were on the ground, stepping slowly onto the dirty hay strewn floor. Reina let loose a soft exhale of relief to have the floor beneath her feet, a feeling that was gobbled up as Naomi turned, revealing the covered wagons that shielded them from view, firelight and shadows flickering around them.

She watched Naomi creep from wagon to wagon, spending a few minutes in each, climbing out with blood on her pale, dagger bearing hands, glancing behind her meaningfully. Two young shaved-headed teenagers with an infant in the older looking one's arms emerged from the wagons. Climbing down, Naomi motioned for the young woman to follow with the others and keep low. A very drunk bandit, headed to piss by the horses, was mid tune when he stepped just out of sight and Naomi felled him with a quick slice, lowering his body to the ground gently.

The two young men turned pale and the younger stepped in front of the baby.

Meeting all their eyes, a terrifying bloody beauty, she slowly touched her index finger to her lips, then motioned them to wait. To Reina, she signed for the woman to watch her and the peasant girl nodded, turning to whisper softly in the boys’ ears.

The frightened lambs let her prowl past, moving around the wagons like a hunter she approached the horses, who snorted as she dipped through them. A man and woman were leaning against each other near the haystacks and laughing a second before she moved like a striking viper, lunging out of the shadow to plunge a dagger each through their throats. Reina’s mouth dropped at the fluidity and power of the attack, and the brute strength the killer showed as she dragged their limp bodies back and behind the haystacks. Is she human? Reina closed her mouth and Naomi’s eyes went to her accomplice.

She waved them closer, stowing a dagger to take her bow from her back. They moved low and quiet as she nocked an arrow and moved around closer to the cages, eyes assessing targets and distances and who might see this ridiculous BS rescue plan as these innocents scuttled behind young Reina. 

Yet, here they were feet away from the relative screen of the cages, so far so good.

_ Dark Lady, though these are not children of your land, and tonight I pray that I truly follow the path You have guided me upon. The oaths I have sworn to the Princess brought me here and they will carry me from this dark place as well_. _ I will defend her people. _

Four sloppy bandits, sitting and standing near the nearest covered cage, fell one by one as the Master of the Dance moved through them like an executioner, laying them to the ground and hiding their death wounds as best she could before quickly bringing Reina through behind her. The young men trailed behind her like soft-footed ducklings and Naomi proffered small daggers to them as they passed her. A range of ages was curled into the splinters of those cages and if her Gods gave her one gift in this dangerous business, it was the quiet determination that sprung from Reina’s terror. Her focus was unwavering as she went to work, the boys moving with their borrowed blades to help her.

While they pulled the young ones from cages, Naomi ducked to the other end of the cages, bindings falling as she found her marks, moving into a position she could work with. Not stopping, she ducked forward as a man wove around the cages shoving a teenage girl with bruises on her face, barely blinking slowly as he leered before he was met with an assassin’s steel in his gut and punched through the soft curve of his neck to his jaw.

Seizing the girl's arm, she dragged both back behind the higher stack of cages, silencing the youngling with a glazed-eyed look. The older boy holding the baby seized her arm and pulled her towards the growing number of children being hushed behind the bandit built cages. The bandits who had been beating on the captured soldiers returned to their cups with bloody fists and forearms. Looking at how they hung from their bonds, the assassin wondered if the soldiers could save themselves, even if she gave them an opening. Because it was not looking like she would have any sort of chance at reaching them before the bandits, not with the young ones. Weak and drained, it would take all they had to reach the cave mouth.

Naomi prayed they remained silent and that Reina would be able to herd them all quickly enough not to kill them. There were still many enemies between them and the open land outside the cave mouth. Still too many hostages within their midst.

Yet, in their eagerness for whatever their compatriots should have brought this afternoon, most were rip-roaringly drunk and only half armored at best, which gave her the barest, slightest inch over the criminals. Their reactions were slow, but reacting in groups, sporadic. Dangerous with weak, battered, fleeing hostages.

A pair of eyes met hers, diagonal to her in the hall, eyes shifting between her and something in front of the cages. Bound, hobbled, and trapped beneath the meaty arm of a bandit that had spilled his drink in his flop into unconsciousness, a rail-thin, raven-haired lady with mangled lips watched a hooded figure motion her to silence. Eyes always darting, taking in the shift of the party, the noise from the band and the moans from the dance circle, both women did their best to communicate. Naomi made a circle and motioned for the woman to come to her.

The village woman with dark, lovely eyes gathered her willpower and shoved the man’s arm away, flopping him onto his back. She could see movement behind the cages and her heart pounded wildly. Rescue? She begged it to be true. Moving unobtrusively, she padded through the drunken revelers to the other kneeling ladies, those who were not preoccupied with entertaining a bandit still singing and shouting at the others in the group. Feet numb and hearts racing, they moved toward the cages. 

Naomi breathed slowly, conscious that every moment they spent behind the bare cover of the cages was another moment they could be spotted and trapped.

Crouching into a larger cage, she peeked through a rip in the fabric covering and knew the spiky green hair and powerful shoulders slumped in front of the cages. She crept up and saw that the boy was still indeed under the bandit woman’s arm, tense and still. Naomi heard the parasite snort and pulled a stiletto, reciting scripture in the juggling part of her brain.

The Master seized the back of the bandit's tunic and precisely struck, ensuring the woman would never open her eyes again. Lowering her lips to wear the boy sat, not noting the change in the way the woman laid upon him. “Be silent, boy, and listen. In a moment you will stand and come behind the cages and remember when it is time to run, you run like a demon is on your heels. Tell the other kids- quietly. Go.”

Hypnotized and traumatized, he stood to his small feet and moved slowly to come around the cages nearest Naomi. “Boy!” Someone called, but the little one, pale and wan kept walking until Naomi shoved him toward Reina. Naomi saw a wide-eyed blonde man climb to his feet, metal rings covering his thick fingers, and begin to shove his way through the dancers.

Glancing to her trickling hourglass, she saw the younger teenage boy from the wagon slicing the ropes on the three women able to slip away. “Out of time.” She whispered near enough for Reina to nod, fighting with another cage. _Dark Lady, watch over us. Master, give me your speed._

The curious, heavyweight stumbled into sight, stepping his big feet over the body of his fallen brother, hazy eyes seeking a boy and finding a blob of green, black, brown, and white blocking his view.

“Huh?”

Naomi knew as she spun mid-air, swinging her short sword as hard as she could, that the room had shifted. Firelight flashed on steel as his head dropped to the ground and she saw the mean eyed bandit brooding with his woman on his lap, high on his stolen chair, catch sight of the swing of her red braid.

The headless body collapsed and she had half a breath to process. "What?!"

Seizing momentum, Naomi flung herself up the poorly built cages and drew back her bowstring as she rose above the ground and sighted, right as the shouts arose. One volley whizzed in through the air and buried itself in the bandit leader’s shoulder as she turned and fired off three in quick succession, downing her marks as the cages fell apart beneath her solid weight. Toppling forward, she wished for more hands as throwing knives flew from her, the tricks Jae-ha taught her coming in handy. She tumbled through the air, sticking the landing and rolling to her feet as the hand that palmed a dagger drew another deadly arrow.

Drunk, surprised, and laid out like a feast before her.

Another round of shots fired as some enemies scrambled for their bows and the leader shoved his lady off the table, seizing his ax and commanding those looking at him to kill her.

She bared her teeth in a savage grin. Bringing the bowstring to her cheek again, she aimed straight past the oncoming bandits, praying for the Lady to guide her shot. No time to look if she’d actually hit what she was aiming for when the first charge broke around her.

Those that reached her first were cut down in a matter of a few moves, her attention pulled as Reina, seizing their focus on the red-haired killer, gave the survivors that signal to run for their lives. Naomi felt the change in the dance and adjusted her footwork, angling to stab and slice her way through the men and the few bandit women left, who fumbled for weapons that were batted aside at the punching impact of Naomi’s strikes.

It had been a while since she’d balanced the precision of the archery with the raw aggression of melee battle. Had they not been intoxicated, they may have truly overwhelmed her, but she was fast and strong, and above all, deadly.

The two women still hobbled were her aims as she tore through the raging bandits who bellowed and swung for her. The members of the band threw down their instruments and palmed rusted steel to face her. “Red Phantom!” They died rallying. Through the bloodshed, she saw that two of her wild shots had struck home- the bindings holding the soldiers to the wall. One had already been gutted while the other ran for the other escapees. The last still hung wide open on the wall, her shot just half an inch too high.

There was horror in her though as she saw the hobbled women race for the steadily moving group of children. Reina wielded one of the long daggers she had given her. Another freed young woman with straight golden hair bore the other one clumsily as they hurried along, crying and ducking as the bandits roused from their stupors, realizing their captives were escaping and a hooded figure worked like a reaper in their midst. The woman with the scarred mouth bore one dagger in each hand and fury in her eyes.

As a bearded man roared towards Reina’s mother, Naomi broke her rhythm, hurling daggers hard enough that they were heard as one whacked into his side and the other struck a skinny, greasy bandit poorly wielding a mace too big for him coming to their side.

With the blind rage of a mother with a child in peril, the stout woman pulled the dagger from his side with bound hands and slammed it hilt deep into his neck.

The other woman, short-haired and still bound, screamed as a sword swung by the leader’s woman connected with her shoulder. Reina’s mother cried raggedly, taking the bloody blade from the neck of her opponent, and kept moving for her daughter. Reina ushered the stunned younglings through the slim opening in the battle, screaming at them to _keep running_. They cried, but no matter what they had to _keep running. _

Naomi broke from her engagement and danced back to fling two more knives that thudded into stumbling bodies, their cries of pain like a siren song. The thwack of a bowstring grabbed her and she turned on a dime and fired, punching through the archer’s eye, even as a small body fell from the group.

“MOVE!” Reina screamed and the older women snatched up frozen children and hoofed it, riding the fear stoked adrenaline. A man lunged from behind the group and Reina roared as her steel connected with his underarm. Had she been wielding one of the bandit weapons, it might not have done much.

Swinging one of Naomi’s carefully tended blades, Reina cut the man to the bone. The blood and his cries of agony only stunned her a moment before she stuck the pointy end in his chest and lunged forward. The young men Naomi had first found, the older still carrying the infant who wailed at the noise, took Reina’s place, beelining for the low path out of the cave into the deepening night.

Naomi drove her sword into the back of the bandit leader’s lady, twisting it as she ripped it free, narrowly dodging a nasty death as someone who could have been her brother tried to club her head in. 

_ Yes, beasts, come for me and offer yourselves to the Dark Lady. I am the threat to your lives. I am your death. _

She met a group of four in close combat as the bandit leader moved to intercept the small group of survivors as they ran.

“Stop!” Naomi tried to cry out as Reina’s mother cut the bounds at her feet and charged like a bull after him, rage twisting her face into a demon’s mask. The assassin couldn’t break as one of her opponents scored a touch with the tip of their blade in the spot of flesh above her left knee.

They pressed her as she switched to compensate for the injury, scratching her and blocking her attempts to scatter them. Their sloppy movements and lack of coordination made her snarl and as one sword slid off her dagger, she pulled them forward. It pierced the bandit behind her and her arm rose to block the weapons descending upon her head, catching them with her bow. Her dagger plunged upward and buried itself in the off-balanced bandit’s throat.

Growling, she released the dagger, seized an arrow from her quiver, and drove it into the third enemy’s eye. He screamed, fingers releasing the weapon bearing down upon the assassin. She kicked them away, pulling her dagger from its place in the dead enemy’s throat, plunging it into the fourth’s heart. 

“MOTHER NO!” Reina screeched, bringing Naomi’s attention back to the bandit leader, now engaged with the brave, reckless woman. Her hands were still bound, gripping the single bloody dagger in her hands, halting the man as the children fled into the night. The free soldier stumbled to a wobbly stop.

Naomi had no idea if the woman had ever wielded more than a kitchen knife, but she was fearless in her fury, staying inches ahead of his swings. Whatever emotions she had repressed since her home was destroyed, whatever instincts lurked inside her, his ax couldn’t pin her and she drew first blood, cutting his abdomen deeply. 

So few left, and yet, as Naomi nocked and drew another arrow, she knew that this battle would have painful costs. Her arrow struck the heart of a hunchbacked bandit who stepped from his hiding place, lunging for Reina’s exposed back. The soldier, finding his honor, lurched toward the battle, arms stretched out to stop the man from bringing that blade upon an innocent woman. He was too hurt and too weak to stop it- but he gave a choked gasp of a battle cry and flung his broken body into the bandit leader as his ax fell once more. The ax swung downward, slicing through flesh and bone. Reina's mother didn't cry out as she fell, shock halting her ability to function. Her right leg fell away from her body as her balance disappeared, taking her to the ground. The bandit leader raged and pressed the edge of his ax through the soldier's throat until it severed bone.

Cursing her wounded leg, Naomi whirled into movement, seizing one of her fallen daggers and hurling it with all the raw power in her blessed body, at the ax wielder. A last-ditch move if she’d ever made one as a boot collided with her ribs. Her bow arm swung as she followed her body’s natural path backward, delivering a punishing blow to the side of the bandit’s shaved head.

Naomi released her bow and drew her second short sword, diving for the man’s exposed side. She didn’t see Reina leap as the assassin’s dagger struck the leader’s thigh with enough force to crack bone. His leg buckled, and he looked for the last time at the silent village girl he had ignored and tormented, as she swung her bloody blade towards his neck.

The bandit lay at Naomi’s feet before she looked up and saw the bandit leader, sans head, laying on the body of the soldier he had just killed near where Reina cried and held her mother. A wound like that, all the way out here… the last of the bandits gave their high-pitched, terrified battle cries, and Naomi dispatched them in a final deadly flourish before the tide of battle swept away from her. She was left standing in a cave full of corpses with a dying woman and her daughter.

The assassin began her prayers for the offering of souls as she limped across the blood slick stone, yanking her belt from her waist. Reina was beyond words as the red-haired woman slipped the belt around the stump her mother’s right thigh ended in. It was closer to the knee than the center of her thigh and Naomi knew they had to stop the bleeding, tightening the belt until Reina’s mother moaned in pain.

“You came to save us,” She gasped to the perfect, terrifying woman whose lips dripped magic spells. “My name is Aria. Thank you for saving my daughter.” Reina babbled in broken Koukan.

Once her prayers finished and the tourniquet was on she took the peasant girl’s chin in her bloody fingers. “Dig deep, Reina. This night is not done and we have far to go. Your mother needs care away from this place. You need to bring the children back, load the wagons, and we will make for Kell.” Aria fainted and Naomi took a brief second to breathe. She hurt. Battle pains, but she was not nearly incapacitated. She had enough to get through this.

A flicker of movement near the fire caught her predatory gaze and Reina rubbed her eyes with an unstained patch of her dress. “Go. Fetch them. Whatever food or valuables the children can move, get it packed up. Have the adults hitch up the horses. Take everything you can. I will move your mother once you have started.”

The girl nodded and got heavily to her feet before rushing for the mouth of the cave. Naomi turned and collected the weapons she had left scattered around her as she circled the spot she saw movement. Once she knew exactly which body still had blood pumping through it, she drifted past them, headed for the only other living thing in the room. She limped to the last soldier, only alive because everyone else forgot he existed. Because her last shot had been just a hair off. He hadn’t run, or scream, or called for help. As she approached and saw his broken face, she realized this one had been hoping she would botch her shot entirely and take his heart instead. As tempting as it felt to kill him quietly and pretend he died in the fight, Naomi felt the tug of that invisible cord.

She cut his bonds and he slumped to the floor, head lolling to look up at her. “Go. Take a horse and leave. If you ever return to this land, I will personally hunt you down and make you regret living. Clear?”

Never in the man’s had he seen or heard someone like her. Even through black eyes, beneath the blood and gore, she was beautiful and utterly, utterly terrifying. If he looked at her eyes, he felt like he was being devoured. “Clear?”

“Y-yes.” He tried to say, struggling to sit up, “P-Pl-”

“I do not care how much pain you are in. I do not care what they broke. I gave you the gift of your life and what you do with it now does not concern me. I do not care if you make it out of this cave. That is up to you- die here or get a horse.”

Turning on her heel, she put the thought of the wounded soldier far from the predatory side of her and dangled a new toy in front of it.

When she found the source of the shuddery breath, she smiled and cracked her aching neck. “Hello, coward. Is it me you are frightened of?” She crooned. Seizing the back of his neck and pulling him to his knees, the hook-nosed bandit struggled and cried about a family to care for. Naomi’s eyes sparkled as bright as the shine of her steel.

“And you stole other people’s family members and took them somewhere else. Where did those people end up, coward? Where are the remnants of your phantoms now that everyone here is dead. I know you were expecting return parties, where did they go?”

She pulled him towards the merrily burning flame as he failed to recall what she wanted to know. “_ Tsk, tsk _, coward. I would have asked these questions to your leader, but he lost his head and you were foolish enough to be the last one alive.” Her knee pinned him to the floor, pressed into his chest like an anvil. “Your comrade over there? He was smart. He got so drunk that he choked on his own vomit and died before the battle finished. He can’t answer my questions either. You can.”

Radiant in the glow of the fire, blood-stained and glazed-eyed, Naomi looked down on the man with nothing, but dreadful promise. “We can do this the easy way or I can open you up and show you what your insides look like. It is your choice, but the longer I go without answers, the longer I will take in pulling them out of you. And I will enjoy it.”

There was no bluff to call, no weakness to exploit. Her hands didn't shake and she didn't bat an eye. The bandit gazed at her, pissed himself, and begged for his life.

“Tell me.” She whispered, resting a dagger in the divot between his rib cage and his soft belly. Whimpering, tongue thick with fear, he told her of the real leader taking men to Kell village to check out the goods while another party had gone farther out.

Out to Jelp Village.

Of the captured villagers that had come and gone from their base, he only knew that some groups went North and some groups went South. Before this new leader, they had never taken prisoners before.

But money was money in the lawless Firelands. That meant the Red Phantoms had just begun expansion into other parts of the kingdom, making deals with other shady groups operating outside the eye of the law.

Reina returned with the children and women who silently began to do as the young woman asked, hitching horses and dragging supplies. It was time to get a move on. The coward’s usefulness had come to an end. The Red Phantoms would no longer be tolerated in this area of the land of Fire.

“Goodbye, coward.”

She slid a dagger into his throat before he could finish his exhale. The small noise drew frightened looks from some of the younglings, pulling cloth bags and whatever boxes their little arms could carry to the covered wagons. They quickly looked away though as Naomi rose to her aching feet and turned to find Reina hoving near her mother, who was still unconscious and very pale. The soldier was nowhere to be seen.

Her bleeding had slowed though and the tourniquet held strong. Reaching their side, the red-haired woman ordered Reina to help hitch the horses. The other remaining women struggled with thin arms and weary muscles to get the job done. Hauling Aria into her arm, Naomi wondered how angry Yoon would be when he saw her leg. Both of their legs. Her wound throbbed furiously and she knew she needed to stop and bind it before she collected the rest of her scattered weapons.

Aria, with her missing foot, calf, and knee, was lucky to be unconscious as the tired assassin heaved them into the back of the middle wagon and laid her out flat on a clear bench. A golden brown-haired boy brought a sack of potatoes to her and listened to her when she told him to find a blanket for the injured woman. She pulled the basic medicine she kept on her from its pouch at her waist and called for the blonde village woman as she passed with two sacks of items in each hand. The assassin’s hands were too bloody to put the medicine on Aria’s leg so she did her best to instruct the woman, Tyne, how to apply it. It wasn’t much, but anything to help keep infection at bay. Naomi almost smiled when the woman volunteered to drive one of the three wagons.

Maybe it was cruel to demand the survivors stay any longer in that cave, but Naomi wasn’t going to chance valuable supplies on the hope that no other bandit groups would come across this place before they returned to clean up and take stock. The assassin knew this part of it would all blend into the nightmare of their time here and the shock would do its best to protect their fragile minds. The remaining horses were hitched in groups behind the three filling wagons, uncaring of their new ownership.

Limping to the raven-haired village woman who finished tying the last knot on the first wagon, Naomi raised her hand and queried the woman in a heavy voice, “I can drive one of the wagons and Tyne will take one. Another adult needs to take the last. Reina needs to stay with her mother. Can you do it?” The assassin leaned on the wagon, taking the weight from her injured knee, fighting a groan.

The villager nodded in reply, trauma robbing her of her ability to vocalize anything. Naomi didn’t press for more confirmation, but as she pushed away to go retrieve her blades, the lady stopped her with a gentle hand. Naomi looked in her eyes and kept her gaze from lingering on the terrible pink scars crossing her lips.

A length of bandage and a small wad of cloth appeared from the sleeves of her dress and the village woman slowly knelt, pushing Naomi’s cloak back to look at the open, bloody wound in her leg. The black leather of her boot was torn, the fabric beneath stiff with blood, and a steady trickle still leaked down her calf. Seeing it, the woman grimaced, glancing up to see the icy cobalt eyes assessing the wound. Swearing in her own language, she motioned for the villager to do her best.

The dressing quickly turned red, but it was enough and Naomi thanked the woman before going to fill her sheathes. Yoon could be furious with her after she brought these people from this nightmare. 

As she pulled daggers, arrows, and throwing knives from cooling corpses, she couldn’t help, but be drawn to the fallen survivors. Those she had not been quick enough to save. A little girl, barely ten, with a longbow arrow almost as long as she was sprouted from her ribcage.

Naomi didn’t know which village she’d been from or what her name had been. If anyone had known it, they were no longer here to tell the assassin. All the weary woman could do was close her little eyes and whisper a quiet prayer. She died frightened, but she died racing for freedom. She did not die in captivity. The same as the bound woman who had taken a sword to the chest, racing for the children. Neither had known when they would escape, but tonight they had found it. Naomi only blessed them on their journey to paradise. They had earned their rest.

Five women, including Aria; eight children between the ages of six and sixteen, plus the baby in swaddling. Fifteen horses. All that remained of two villages. A single lantern hung from a hook from the front of the wagons, their only illumination going forward. Naomi grunted as she hauled herself into the first wagon’s driver seat, taking up the reins and resting her injured leg as best she could.

A light thump next to her gave her a start as a familiar boy sat next to her. The one who had heard her voice behind him and followed her command. Who had saved them precious seconds with his obedience when that bandit had called for him.

“You don’t have to sit here, kid. You can rest in the back if you want.” She offered. The drivers signaled the all-clear when Naomi looked.

“I want to sit with you,” He whispered, a soft baby bird voice. Sweet like Tae-yeon’s, with solemn, dark brown eyes that looked at the war-torn cave with an understandable lack of emotion. He held himself as though she would rage at him, but she only sighed, “Alright, if you wish.”

She clicked her teeth and snapped the reins, the nags complying and heaving the wagon forward. The wheels rattled and Naomi heard the snap of the other reins. The boy next to her looked to the black night and gulped audibly.

“What is your name, boy?”

He glanced at her quickly, and after a second he whispered, almost silently. “Kamress.”

She scratched at some dried blood on her cheek. “Kamress. Are you from Shai or Heath?”

They were approaching the exit and he shook his head, “Bevel.”

Another village, Naomi recognized with an ache. How many had been affected by the rampant banditry in these lands? How much suffering had been allowed by selfish rulers?

“Well, Kamress of Bevel, my name is Yami. I am a monster hunter.” She gave him a hint of a smile. “As long as I am by your side, there is nothing out there that can harm you.” He looked from her to the approaching darkness. “A monster hunter?” He asked, a little louder than he’d spoken before.

“Mhmm. A good one too.”

His eyes skirted back to the piles of the dead they were leaving behind. “Were they monsters?” When his eyes returned to her, she wished she had the energy to weep for the horrors this boy had endured. “Yes, Kamress. They were people that turned into monsters.”

He processed this and faced the night with less fear in his little body. “That’s why you came. You came to hunt them.” He asserted as their wagon rolled out of the cave into the open air. Her voice was soft when she answered him. “Yes, I came to hunt these monsters. My leader, she commanded me to find the monsters here and bring you somewhere safe.”

Kamress turned his eyes upward, his small face illuminated by the lantern, and found the sky full of stars. They reflected brightly in his guileless eyes. “I am glad she sent you. I am glad you came.”

She clicked her tongue again and urged the horses into a fast trot. It would be hours yet until they would reach Kell. Hours for Aria to hold on. Hours for the shock to wear off. It would be a long night for this monster hunter.

“I’m glad too, Kamress.”

* * *

They rolled into Kell in the frigid hours before dawn and Naomi was utterly exhausted. Kamress had fallen asleep with his small dark head pillowed on the thigh of her injured leg. She didn’t bring them all the way into the village, bringing the small caravan to a halt.

“Kamress, go sleep in the back with the others right now.” She murmured to the little boy who was instantly awake and bleary-eyed as she began to move. “Are there monsters?” It was likely that the members of the Red Phantom that had come when she had left were still within the village proper. She would deal with them before bringing the batter survivors into another fight. “Perhaps, but you don’t worry about that. Go to the others and stay there.” The boy did as she told him, though she wondered if he would really fall back asleep.

The woman she had taken to calling Hush and the other driver, Tyne, looked at her with equally exhausted eyes, as she limped to the other wagons. They voiced no complaints and had handled the journey from Heath to Kell better than Naomi could have hoped for.

“I will check the village first. Wake Reina and keep everyone quiet. Stay here until I return.”

They bowed their heads in understanding and climbed down from their seats.

Forcing the sharp, angry pain in her leg from the forefront of her mind, Naomi swept into Kell. She had claimed this village not even a day ago. The time had come all too soon to enforce her declaration.

Most of the city was dark and silent, the inhabitants asleep or hiding. As she wove towards the Head’s home though, she could hear voices in the darkness and wondered if the fools had really stayed up this late. There was nothing to take from Kell, no alcohol to rob, no money…

Two sacks of coins flashed before her eyes and her jaw hardened.

Three bandits lounged baldly outside the house she had visited. They had the look of Red Phantom and one’s head lolled sideways in deep sleep. She did not slow her pace, coming upon them with the grace of a hunting cat. A palm knife slid through their throats as if they were butter. Their bodies slumped in the street and the assassin went through the threshold into the main room of the home, which had been torn apart.

All able-bodied members of Kell sat in the room, looking like servants waiting upon the ugly scarred man who sang a familiar song with his three other compatriots, the beautiful old hangings that had adorned the chamber burning on the floor.

Blood splattered the wooden boards, counterpointing the ash, and Naomi’s eyes were immediately drawn to the body of the old man who had led this village. He was sprawled near the small fire, his thin limbs twisted and his hair matted to his head with dried blood. The man who had begged her for the lives of his people. He must not have told them where the coins had been. It didn’t matter as those coins filled the fingers of the scarred bandit. A wooden box lay in pieces near a bruised old lady who sat silently with her eyes downcast.

Once again, Naomi was just too late.

Some of the Kell villagers gasped in recognition as she materialized from out of the dark night. One bandit looked up and saw her crossing the floor, her cloak flaring behind her to show her swiftly moving hands. “Oi-”

Naomi slammed a blade into one throat as she drew her shortsword, spinning on her bad leg to bring it across the neck of the nearest bandit. The move was so startingly, so unexpected, the leader and his remaining cohort merely watched and blink as their companions died.

“You vicious bitch!” The scarred man yelled, jumping to his feet and pulling his own sword. In another second, she had disarmed him and slammed his blade into his own leg. The other bandit made no move to stand, speechless before the sudden, controlled attack.

“They warned you. I am sure they did.” Her midnight voice sent shivers through everyone present. The screaming leader could do nothing as Naomi twisted his blade and slowly severed the limb with steady, unyielding pressure. “This village belongs to the Dark Dragon and trespassers are not welcome.”

The Red Phantom leader fell to the floor bleeding and swearing. “That man you killed- he belonged to me. The hangings you burned- also mine. The money in your greedy hands- mine. I don’t like it when strangers touch what is mine. The other villages you destroyed, I claimed them today and killed every Phantom I found in that cave.” She purred, and the bandit sitting on the floor, counting the money they had stolen, tried to shove away from it. As if it would make him look any less guilty.

“Your gang is dead and mine has moved in. This land belongs to the Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch and one of you will leave this place to warn other bandits who think this area is a good place to set up shop, of the consequences of crossing us. Should you ever return, I will personally hunt you down and hang you by your insides.”

The way the remaining bandit glanced from her to his bleeding leader, almost made the assassin bust into hysterical laughter. She allowed herself only a mad grin at the scarred bandit who barely breathed between his streams of curses. “And the odds are not looking in your favor, worm. It only takes one to deliver a message and you are down a leg. If I told you two to race and counted to five- the first one out the door lives to pass on my warning- do you think it would be you?” She asked, cocking her head in a movement that was pure predator.

“One…”

The leader looked from her to his remaining subordinate who met his eyes, white-faced with terror. “Two…”

The leader gasped and tried to push himself up, scrabbling in his own pool of blood. Naomi’s smile widened. “Three…”

The room filled with the scarred leader’s cries for the other bandit to return as he rocketed from his position next to him and charged for the door. No amount of ‘get back here’ was going to convince that man to face the demon who had descended on Kell. “Four…”

The scarred man tried crawling from her, bellowing in fear as she advanced slowly toward him. He cast his eyes to the silent villagers of Kell who watched with stone-cold faces. No one would speak a word for him. Most of them hid evil pleasure at his fear- they had warned him and his lackeys that this village only held death for them. And _ she _ had returned in darkness to serve it to them. The last Red Phantom disappeared into the night.

“Five. _ Tsk _, poor worm, left all alone, unable to run, unable to hide. Do you think anyone will mourn you?” She stepped on his stump, eliciting a scream before she straddled his back and he began to beg. They always begged.

“You deserve to suffer more, for all that you have done, but I’m not a glutton.” She whispered, seizing her chin and the back of his head in her grimy hands. Normally she would do this move quickly. Yet, when she began to twist she found herself savoring how his voice thinned and shriveled. Slowly and surely she brought his neck to the edge, pain making his eyes bulge. The last thing he saw was the poisonously beautiful smile bedecked in dried blood. With a surge of her muscles, she finished her twist with a massive snap that she felt echo down his body. _Blessed Lady, dark and glorious, take these wicked souls as offering in gratitude for Your guidance this bloody night. I live by Your Grace._

The dying fire was the only noise in the room for a solid ten seconds.

“Which one of you is the new Head of this village?” Naomi asked into the silence, raising her head.

No one raised their hand and no one spoke. Shock and fear had stolen their voices, but the assassin had no time or patience for it. She pointed to an older woman who looked at her in surprise. Naomi had seen how she hadn’t looked away during the small execution. “You. You’re in charge now. I have women and children outside the village with wagons of supplies. One is seriously injured so if there is anyone with any medical practice in this village, send for them now.”

Turning while she still had the momentum she pointed at two men around the same age. “You two move the carrion. Drop them outside the village limits. I don’t care, but get them gone. The rest of you will aid your new leader.” Naomi blessed the Gods as the woman she had declared the Head stood and motioned for an elderly woman to come to her side.

“Lady, this is Erma. She had some knowledge of plants.” The woman had a low, pleasant voice that surely had a mother’s steel in it. “You may call me Yami. I will go and bring the wagons, wait here.” Naomi forced her body into motion again, letting the limp show slightly. Just a little longer and she could rest. She had delegated and had brought the survivors to a safe haven. She could see this finished. The men and women of Kell watched her quietly slip into the darkness as the two older men began hauling the bleeding corpse of the bandit leader away. There was no sign of her messenger. He likely bolted as far from the village as his legs would take him.

When Hush saw the hooded figure limping toward her, she allowed herself one small, relieved smile. She waited until Naomi had returned her wave before she motioned to Tyne and climbed back into her seat. The silent woman prayed her trust was not misplaced in the red-haired killer as they moved the wagons into the village. They desperately needed a safe place to rest and recover.

When she saw the open, concerned faces of the Kell villagers, Hush began to shake. She had survived. She had made it out of that cave.

Men and women descended on the wagons, speaking softly to one another as bags and boxes were unloaded and children were carried sleeping into houses to be tucked in. Reina spoke with the Head, her eyes never straying far from her mother, who was carried into the lit house with its ashes and bloodstains. The elderly medicine woman went with her.

Naomi sat on her bench in the wavering lantern light, convincing herself that climbing on a horse and riding for Jelp would be the best option. “Yami?” A tiny voice called, bringing her back into her sore, injured body. She turned and saw behind her, in the darkness of the covered wagon, Kamress’ wide eyes stared back at her. “Were there monsters here?”

She sighed tiredly and gave him a small smile, “There were a couple, but they are gone now. This is a safe place. No monsters, I promise.” 

He believed her, but he looked so haunted that she swung her rubbery legs to the side and slid to the ground. Limping to the back, she motioned for the boy to come to her and he did so without hesitation. “Let’s find you a place to sleep, little one.” She murmured as he slid into her arms and wrapped his thin little limbs around her torso. Lifting him, she swore at how light he was. She needed to find that Head and command her to feed these survivors as soon as they woke up tomorrow.

She passed Hush, whose eyes widened at the boy in the killer’s arms. It was as strange a picture as Naomi imagined it was, but she was too tired to care. “Find me a horse. I’m riding for Jelp as soon as I set him down. And bring me the Head. You all need food as soon as they can cook it.”

Hush nodded and headed for the Head House, her tangled dark hair catching the flickering lantern light.

_Soon, soon I can rest. As soon as I bring help, I can rest._

A candle was lit in one small house and her boots thudded heavily on the floor as she followed the light inside. Against one wall, the young men who had carried the infant all the way from the cave were curled into each other on a thin mat, completely asleep. The woman moving around her wood stove paused at the sight of the bandit who had claimed their village, holding a young boy, standing in her home. Without a word, she laid out another mat and Naomi moved slowly to lay Kamress down on it. His limp little body was warm and she felt its absence as she set him down.

Her leg screamed and Naomi wobbled as she turned to set her back against the wall. She breathed through the pain and brushed a hand over the boy’s hair as gently as she could. She’d gotten him safe. No monsters could get him now.

The sounds of the children breathing and the woman preparing her stove soothed Naomi’s turbulent, numb thoughts. In one second, she would stand up and bring Yoon to this village. He would be able to help them. Heal them. Organize the village, now that she had spun its leadership in circles. It had been a long day.

Just one more second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about a super long chapter! Sorry, not sorry xx  
Thank you all for your love and support- your comments bring me joy like nothing else!  
Whoo! Fire Tribe Arc! Who put the third apple in her bag?


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